Number of asylum seekers continues to rise; Cabinet takes extra measures

The number of asylum seekers arriving in the Netherlands keeps increasing and State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff of Security and Justice does not see this changing in the foreseeable future. Currently about 1,700 asylum seekers arrive in the Netherlands per week. The Cabinet has taken a number of measures to deal with this influx. This is according to a letter that the State Secretary wrote to the Tweede Kamer, lower house of parliament on Monday. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is having a hard time keeping up with investigating the ever increasing number of asylum applications. The Service will therefore hire 100 additional staff members in September, in addition to the 100 extra employees hired in June. The Service will also arrange to be open on some weekends to catch up on the backlog. The application center in Ter Apel has opened emergency pavilions to provide shelter for asylum seekers waiting to b registered. The possibility of opening an second registration location, to offer some relief for Ter Apel, is also being investigated. The COA is still working on opening shelters in empty halls, as was recently arranged in Goes and Zwolle. According to the State Secretary, such shelter is not ideal, but acceptable "as long as it is for a short time." Dijkhoff also implemented the so-called self-care arrangement again. With this arrangement asylum applicants can give up their bed in the asylum center to stay with a family member or friend. A small fee will be paid out to the asylum seeker. This opens beds for the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, the COA, to use for other asylum seekers.