Two thousand waiting asylum seekers in the Netherlands are registered at an accelerated rate. This is happening in Budel in Brabant and not in Ter Apel, in order to relieve the pressure on the application center in Groningen. Police say additional personnel are being deployed.
According to the police, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), it is a matter of catching up. The two thousand asylum seekers who already have a pre-registration must have completed the identification and registration process within six to eight weeks.
This group is currently in crisis emergency shelters across the country. By fully registering them, extra places are temporarily available. These can be used to accommodate the large groups of people in Ter Apel – who now usually have nowhere to go.
COA arranges transport to Budel. By not helping the asylum seekers in Ter Apel, capacity is freed up in the application center for new asylum seekers.
The police report that all parties involved and the Transport & Support Service (DV&O) are having extra people assist.
Not enough places to sleep for asylum seekers in Ter Apel
Ter Apel application center regularly does not have enough space for new asylum seekers. In recent days, about two hundred people had to sleep outside, because the COA could not offer them a place to sleep elsewhere.
Tensions arise among the large groups of asylum seekers, which sometimes lead to fights. The police write that the extra police deployment in Ter Apel also means that “the tasks in the field of immigration control in the rest of the country” cannot be performed or can be performed to a limited extent.
The force emphasizes that catching up does not completely remove the pressure on the asylum chain. “The lack of reception places will not be solved by eliminating the administrative backlog.”