Anti-Islam leader Wilders slams Labour over 200,000 asylum seeker claim

Anti-Islam political party leader Geert Wilders scoffed at Labour leader Diederik Samsom’s assertion that the Dutch citizenry would support taking up to 200,000 asylum seekers. The migration is a direct consequence of the war in Syria, and people which will continue to seek refuge elsewhere until there is peace in the region, Samsom asserted during an interview with the Nederlands Dagblad. Wilders, of the nationalist Party for Freedom (PVV), Tweeted a response calling those seeking asylum “fortune seekers” that will cost the Netherlands 36 thousand euros per person, per year, totaling 7.2 billion euros. However, an analysis of Wilders’ claim in June that the country spends 36 thousand on each potential refugee shows that his estimate includes the total annual budgets of the Central Organization for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA), and the entire Immigration and Naturalization Office (IND) budget, which handles all immigrants to the country including knowledge migrants and international students. The estimate also includes the 70 million euro budget of the Repatriation and Departure Service, which handles the expensive task of extraditing criminals to other nations, a 26 million euro provision for free legal representation should asylum seekers need it, and about 31 million euros to non profit organizations that assist in providing education and welfare to youths, as well as integration courses and family reunification. Wilders on Wednesday claimed the total annual cost after family reunification would be between 15 and 20 billion euros. “You may pay,” he sneered to Samsom in his remark. Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher agreed with party colleague Samsom that the Netherlands is capable of absorbing 200 thousand asylum seekers, but said the country should focus its attention on reducing the influx and provide better care to those that stay. “We must ensure that we neatly welcome those people who need help, who need security, and people who can really continue to make a contribution,” Asscher told NOS Radio 1. In a press release issued by the PVV, Wilders wants Prime Minister Mark Rutte to answer six questions about Samsom's assertion. Rutte leads a government coalition of his own right-wing VVD party and Samsom's leftist PvdA. Wilders plans to ask if Rutte knows of Samsom's claim, if Rutte agrees with the PVV claim that there is "absolutely no support" for more asylum seekers, and if Rutte agrees with Wilders' estimate of the associated costs. He also wants to know if the Prime Minister agrees that the theoretical billions in euros are "better spent on our own people." Wilders added loaded questions asking if Rutte realizes that "we must not replace our people" with foreigners and that "we also have far too much Islam in the Netherlands." He concludes by wondering if Rutte will continue to put up with statements from the Labour party, or if he'll resign the cabinet to "protect the country" from asylum seekers.