Sober reception for asylum seekers from safe countries will close

The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has not been able to find new locations for a pilot in which asylum seekers with little chance of a residence status are received. The municipalities of Ter Apel and Budel currently receive these asylum seekers in so-called austere locations, but they will stop the trial at the end of this month. They think it is now the turn of other municipalities.

No new locations have been found despite “the efforts of the COA and the urgent appeal from the National Regietafel Migration and Integration”, according to a letter from the Ministry of Justice and Security to the House of Representatives. As a result, we are forced to return to the situation before the pilot: asylum seekers who have little chance of a residence status are dispersed among asylum seekers’ centers in the country.

The so-called ‘safelanders’ more often exhibit criminal behavior than other asylum seekers. Residents and shopkeepers in Ter Apel and Budel have been complaining for years about shoplifting and nuisance. Also bus drivers already went on strike against the nuisance.

Search continues

Since the end of 2019, there has been a lot of search for places for so-called austere reception. Only Ter Apel and Budel took part. The special reception locations are intended to discourage asylum seekers from safe countries from staying here. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) is now continuing the search, according to the letter from the ministry.

There is currently no bed left in the Dutch asylum reception. Where exactly did it go wrong and how did it get this far?

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