Westerwolde preparing new case against overcrowded asylum center in Ter Apel

The municipality of Westerwolde will go back to court if the Ter Apel asylum registration center is still overcrowded after September 1. The center has accommodated hundreds more people than it has room for for months, despite an earlier court ruling to not go beyond its capacity. “Reason for the municipality to initiate the next legal steps,” the municipality told RTV Noord.

In January, the court ruled that the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) must stop overcrowding the Ter Apel asylum registration center. The center has room for 2,000 people. Every night that more than 2,000 slept in the center, the COA had to pay a fine of 15,000 euros to Westerwolde. The municipality filed the lawsuit, raising concerns about the safety of asylum seekers in the center and locals of the Groningen village.

The idea was that the COA would avoid the fine and keep Ter Apel below capacity. It worked for a little while, but the center was soon overcrowded again. The first fine was imposed at the end of February, and since then, the center has been over capacity almost every night. In June, the fine amount reached 1.5 million euros, the maximum amount imposed by the court.

That month, the COA told Westerwolde that it expected to reduce the number of people in Ter Apel to the center’s capacity by mid-July. But the situation has not improved in recent weeks, despite the fact that fewer people are seeking asylum in the Netherlands than expected.

According to RTV Noord, the COA now promised Westerwolde in writing that it would reduce the number of asylum seekers to the 2,000-person limit by September 1. The municipality said it would give the COA the opportunity to keep that promise but was ready to start the next legal procedure if it failed.

“We want the situation to normalize,” said Mayor Jaap Velema. “Unfortunately, that seems to require a new court case.” He stressed that the municipality of Westerwolde, which covers Ter Apel, was not interested in the money from the fines the COA has to pay. “We would rather have the numbers go down every day than have more money come in.”

There is a big shortage of shelter spaces for asylum seekers in the Netherlands, partly due to the housing shortage. Several thousand refugees with a residency permit are stuck living in asylum centers because no homes are available for them. This means they can’t start building their lives in the Netherlands, and they occupy beds needed for new asylum seekers arriving.

The COA is dependent on the Dutch municipalities to create new shelters, but many are very reluctant to do so, especially since the new Cabinet took office with the intention of scrapping the asylum distribution law. The law, implemented by the previous State Secretary of Asylum after a lot of effort and compromises, obliges municipalities to shelter their fair share of asylum seekers.