In Ter Apel, no asylum seeker has yet to sleep on a chair or in the open air, as was the case last summer. However, the location is “more or less continuously” at the peak of the occupation, says a spokeswoman for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) on Monday.
The COA spokeswoman says that there are always about 1700 to 1800 asylum seekers staying in Ter Apel, sometimes a little more. “It is still puzzling how we can accommodate everyone.” That also depends on the number of new people per day, the available places in Ter Apel and elsewhere in the country, and the pace at which the various procedure steps are completed.
Peak in the influx in August
The location could no longer cope with the influx last summer. Then hundreds of asylum seekers were forced to sleep on the grass. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum Affairs) has been trying to prevent this situation for some time now, by creating reception places elsewhere or by offering residence permit holders shelter. They can then leave the asylum seekers’ centers to free up space. The minister also expects a peak in the influx in August, possibly because asylum seekers who now enter Europe via Spain, Italy or Austria, for example, later travel on to the Netherlands.
Reception location COA
There is an IND application center in Ter Apel, where asylum seekers who enter our country report. And there is a COA reception location. There is no sleeping accommodation in the application centre. Last summer, people slept outside the complex, at the entrances to the registration center and the main entrance to the reception location, which are next to each other.