State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) wants to set up three to four ‘overflow locations’ for asylum seekers within a month. Such locations must be used as waiting rooms to prevent unmanageable crowds in Ter Apel.
The overflow areas are intended to accommodate asylum seekers before their application procedure is processed in Ter Apel. The locations must be able to accommodate five hundred asylum seekers.
In addition to overflow places, Van der Burg wants a ‘flow location’ in every province, where five to fifteen hundred recognized asylum seekers can wait from the asylum seekers’ center for permanent accommodation. Several locations may be used per province to accommodate that number.
In a letter, State Secretary Van der Burg urgently appeals to all mayors and commissioners of the King to quickly offer both types of locations.
Krijg een melding bij nieuws over de opvangcrisis
Ter Apel must be relieved
The intention of the overflow areas is to relieve Ter Apel. There, asylum seekers are identified after arrival at the application center and registered by the police and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).
Van der Burg writes that there is currently “insufficient processing capacity” in the asylum chain to keep up with the influx. This means that not everyone who reports to Ter Apel can be identified immediately.
The State Secretary has promised the municipality of Westerwolde (which includes Ter Apel) that no more than two thousand asylum seekers will stay in Ter Apel at the same time. In order to fulfill that promise and to prevent people from having to sleep on the grass outside the center, as was the case last year, new locations are needed in the short term where people can be identified.
From 1 July, the Expo Assen will be used as a front portal, but more locations are needed. “The realization of the above locations can prevent a new reception shortage,” writes Van der Burg.
Mayors stop coordinating crisis emergency care
The 25 mayors of the Security Council respond “benevolently” to the request. But they have also announced that they will stop coordinating the crisis emergency shelter. It will be handed over to the provinces, said chairman Wouter Kolff, mayor of Dordrecht.
“The Security Council cannot regulate it for years to come,” he said. Kolff also pointed out that agreements were made in August to bring the crisis to an end. “Many of those agreements have not been fulfilled.” For example, he pointed to the fact that there are still not enough people working at the IND and at the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA).
The mayors are also urging the cabinet to come up with the distribution law quickly. This means that municipalities can be forced to take in asylum seekers. But it will be months before that law is passed. According to the mayors, the cabinet is working hard on a solution. “But we think it is important to also make it clear that the Security Council is not the solution.”
Van der Burg said he understands that the mayors are stopping the crisis emergency shelter. They had already agreed to an extension several times.
A number of municipalities will continue to offer crisis emergency shelter, but in other municipalities the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) will take over the emergency shelter. In some municipalities, emergency shelters are disappearing, Van der Burg said.
2023-06-06 21:27:09
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