Dutch Senate will likely pass asylum location law today, but some cities remain defiant

The Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, will vote on the asylum distribution law on Monday. The bill, which allows the government to force municipalities to take in a fair share of asylum seekers, will likely pass since the VVD Senators decided to go against their party leadership’s line and throw their support behind the law. Some municipalities have already said they will ignore the law if it is implemented.

The Central Agency for Asylum Seekers (COA) has been struggling for years to house all the people seeking asylum in the Netherlands. The situation came to a head in the summer of 2022 when the registration center in Ter Apel became so crowded that people had to sleep outside in the grass for weeks on end. Since then, thousands of asylum seekers have been living in emergency shelters, often consisting of nothing more than stretchers in a gym hall. Ter Apel is also structurally overcrowded, with people sleeping on the floor in waiting areas, to the point that the municipality of Westerwolde, which covers Ter Apel, has taken the COA to court.

The COA is dependent on municipalities to create space for asylum shelters, but many are reluctant to do so. A recent study by RTV Noord showed that about a third of Dutch municipalities haven’t taken in a single asylum seeker in twelve years. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum, VVD) therefore drew up this law to ensure that all municipalities help create shelter.

During the election campaign last year, his party suddenly withdrew support from the bill. It passed through parliament without the VVD’s support, but without the liberals, a majority in the Senate was uncertain. Now that the VVD Senators decided to vote for the law, it will almost certainly pass.

Several municipalities indicated that they would ignore the distribution law if it were implemented. The municipality of Westland, a collection of towns and villages just southwest of The Hague, already said they would not comply with the law, which would require them to take in around 700 asylum seekers. “How?” Guus Bakker, party leader of VVD Westland, told Omroep West. “We can’t even house our own young people, the elderly, and migrant workers. And then we now have to place 700 asylum seekers, which is simply impossible to explain to ordinary citizens.”

Other municipalities will be finding space for shelters once the law is passed. Woudenberg Mayor Magda Jansen told RTV Utrecht that her Utrecht municipality searched high and low for suitable locations to house asylum seekers, but their efforts have not yet yielded positive results. She told the broadcaster she understands the need for the law, considering the overcrowding in current locations, and that they will continue to look for solutions.

Renswoude also told RTV Utrecht that they do not know how they can comply with the asylum law once it is enacted. It is the smallest municipality in the Province of Utrecht and has not yet taken in any asylum seekers. “But if we are called upon, we will discuss this with our residents and the municipal council,” Mayor Petra Doornenbal told the broadcaster. “At the same time, we have to be realistic; what is feasible?”

“Accommodating at least a hundred people, as the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) first requested, for example, is far too much for a municipality of our size. We cannot staff that, and the effect on our society is also too significant.” Renswoude is home to 5,500 people.

Responsible State Secretary Van der Burg stressed that the distribution law is a last resort that came only after repeated pleas with municipalities to create shelter space resulted in nothing. And many cities seem to understand that. “If all municipalities accept their social responsibility, or have accepted it, this law might not be necessary,” the municipality of Bunnik told RTV Utrecht.

Strife in the Cabinet formation

The VVD Senators' decision to support the asylum distribution law, against their party leadership’s line, caused some strife in the current Cabinet formation negotiations between the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB. All four right-wing parties are pretty anti-immigration, but none more so than the populist PVV, the largest party after the parliamentary elections in November.

Geert Wilders and his PVV strongly opposed the asylum distribution law, calling it “coercive” because it forces municipalities to shelter asylum seekers. “MY GOD,” an outraged Wilders posted on X last week once it became clear that the Senate would support the distribution law.

VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz told the Telegraaf that she would have preferred to first implement measures to limit the number of asylum seekers and only then consider the asylum distribution law. “But the Senate has chosen to act the other way around, and that is their right,” she said.