Asylum distribution law won't be dropped this year despite prior promise, says minister

The proposal to abolish the Asylum Distribution Law will not be submitted by the end of this year after all. In the planning of her laws that Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber sent to parliament, she said that the bill to withdraw the distribution act “will be submitted for advice and implementation tests in the first quarter of 2025,” NOS reports.

That is another blow to the PVV’s “strictest asylum policy ever.” Scrapping the Asylum Distribution Law, which obliges municipalities to take in their fair share of asylum seekers, was a big part of the coalition agreement. Doing so this year was part of the compromise for PVV leader Geert Wilders to let go of his long-cherished wish to declare an asylum crisis.

Now, the government will only submit the bill to scrap the Asylum Distribution Law for advice and implementation tests by the police and immigration service IND in the first quarter of next year. It is unclear when the law will actually be abolished.

Faber still intends to submit the Emergency Asylum Measures Act, which includes measures intended to reduce the influx of asylum seekers, for advice and implementation assessments before the end of this year. She’ll also ask the Council of State for an urgent opinion on this act before the year is out. The proposal will be submitted to parliament as soon as possible afterward, Faber said.

Measures in the Emergency Asylum Measures Act include limiting refugee residency permits to three years, making it easier to declare a convicted asylum seeker an undesirable alien and evicting them, and no longer allowing family reunification for unmarried partners or adult children.