The central reception location in Ter Apel is again almost full of asylum seekers. This is what a spokesperson for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) told RTV Noord.
The reception location at the application center for asylum seekers, which can accommodate up to two thousand people, has had to raise the alarm more often in recent times due to the capacity shortage in Ter Apel. Previously, Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Oss, Alkmaar, Venray and Rijswijk, among others, took over asylum seekers.
The COA wants larger locations for asylum seekers to become available in the short term that can be used for a longer period of time. Emergency shelter tents were already placed in Ter Apel, but they had to be removed again.
The Groningen Security Region described the situation at the registration center at the end of March as worrying. Asylum seekers cannot move on to one of the 111 asylum seekers’ centers in our country. They are full, partly because about 13,000 status holders – asylum seekers who have received a residence permit – are waiting for a home.