Hundreds of kids growing up without parents due to new asylum policy

About 200 children in the Netherlands are at risk of growing up without their parents due to new asylum policy by immigration and naturalization service IND regarding family reunification, NRC reported based on internal IND documents in its possession.

The new policy states that "unaccompanied minor aliens" who are taken in by a family member in the Netherlands are no longer automatically entitled to reunification with their parents or siblings once they are granted asylum in the Netherlands. The idea is that this be a signal that sending children ahead in order to get asylum for the whole family does not pay off, according to the newspaper.

Top officials and lawyers at the IND raised serious doubts and concerns about this policy. "The legal and practical vulnerabilities are known to the State Secretary," NRC quoted from the document. But the policy was pushed through by the State Secretary of Justice and Security Akie Broekers-Knol, who is responsible for asylum. 

This policy has been applied in the Netherlands since November 2020, according to the newspaper.