"Unacceptable risk" of violence at Ter Apel; Asylum stop won't work, State Sec. says

Employees and asylum seekers at the Ter Apel registration center in Groningen run an “unacceptable risk” of becoming victims of violence, the Justice and Security Inspectorate concluded. Outgoing State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum Affairs) raised concerns about the new government’s plans to introduce a two-year stop on processing asylum applications.

Employees of the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) and security guards are currently responsible for safety within the Ter Apel asylum registration center. But, according to the Inspectorate, they are not sufficiently authorized or trained to handle this.

The Inspectorate called on outgoing Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz and Van der Burg to quickly deploy more police and trained personnel to Ter Apel to get a quick grip on the security situation. After that, they can work on long-term safety.

In March 2022, the Ministry banned the COA from letting asylum seekers sleep on the lawn in front of the Ter Apel center. According to the Inspectorate, that only resulted in more people staying in the center and the public order problems moving into the COA site. “The situation has now become so serious that residents and employees run an unacceptable risk of becoming victims of a (violent) incident. Several people have already been injured,” the Inspectorate said.

The Inspectorate pointed out that it had previously raised concerns about the substandard quality of life in the Ter Apel center. “The Inspectorate explicitly indicated that the COA needs assistance to deal with the unsafe situation. The various signals have not led to an improvement,” it said. “The problems can only be solved if all organizations from the asylum chain, criminal justice chain, healthcare chain, and the municipality work together.”

The new right-wing government’s plan to solve the overoccupancy problem in the Dutch asylum chain is to drastically reduce the number of people who can apply for asylum. The PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB’s coalition agreement speaks of an “asylum decision stop.” According to PVV MP Marina Vondeling, that means the new Cabinet will not process any asylum applications for two years, she said in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday. Outgoing State Secretary Van der Burg is very concerned by this plan.

“Are we saying here that everyone who comes to the Netherlands will be guaranteed asylum reception in the next two years but will not be assessed whether or not he or she is allowed to stay?” Van der Burg said in parliament, according to ANP. If Vondeling’s reading of the plan is correct, “you tell asylum seekers with little chance from all over Europe that if you come to the Netherlands, you can be sure that you cannot be departed for the first two years because we are not going to make any decisions,” Van der Burg said. That can’t be the PVV’s intention, he said.

Vondeling had left the debate before Van der Burg spoke, so couldn’t comment. She did note in her explanation that the new Minister of Asylum and Migration will have to work out the plan further. Marjolein Faber is up for the job.