Tilburg mayor proposes asylum seeker quotas for all municipalities

Tilburg mayor Peter Noordanus thinks a quota for each Brabant municipality on how many asylum seekers they must take in, will help solve the problem of finding space for all asylum seekers, Tubantia reports. The quota will be based on the number of each municipality's residents. Such a quota already applies for refugees given residency permits. Noordanus wants Brabant to also use it for asylum seekers still going through the process. According to the Tilburg mayor's estimation, Brabant will have to take in another 3,500 asylum seekers by the end of May. By the end of the year, the province has to find space for 6 thousand people. Noordanus will present his plan during a meeting of the Brabant mayors with Commissioner of the King Wim van de Donk on Thursday. "My appeal is: let us now solve this problem all together, each according to ability", Noordanus said. "The time for talking is over: we need to act. If not, The Hague will soon decide how we must do it." This idea follows a survey by Brabants Dagblad among Brabant mayors. The survey showed that many of the mayors supports the plan of their colleagues Mark Buijs of Boxtel and Jan Hamming of Heusden to take in small groups of asylum seekers.