Asylum Min. says she doesn't have to ask Inspectorate's opinion on laws after criticism
Minister Marjolein Faber of Asylum and Migration says that she was not obliged to consult the Justice and Security Inspectorate for her new asylum laws. The Inspectorate told the newspaper Trouw that the Minister had ignored the rules by presenting her laws without asking it for its opinion. The Justice and Security Inspectorate supervises the asylum chain.
“I am not obliged to do so at all and if that is stated somewhere, I would like to see it,” Faber told ANP on Monday. She said that she only consulted the directly involved organizations because the Ministry was in a hurry with the emergency laws.
According to Trouw, the Ministry’s “Instructions regarding the national inspectorates and the Relationship Statute” stipulate that draft legislation and regulations be submitted to the relevant national inspectorate “at an early stage.” The Instructions are binding, although there are no direct consequences for ignoring them, the Inspectorate told the newspaper.
On December 4, the Inspectorate sent Faber an angry letter after finding out that she had submitted proposals for her asylum laws to several organizations. “The Inspectorate gets the impression that involving supervision in advance is optional. That is not the case,” the Inspectorate wrote. It reminded the Minister of her obligations and “urgently” asked her to “carefully consult” the Inspectorate about this draft bill.
The Inspectorate did not receive a response from the Minister, a spokesperson for the Inspectorate told Trouw.
The newspaper asked the Ministry of Asylum and Migration why it did not consult with the Inspectorate. It replied: “With regard to the consultation on the two legislative proposals, the parties that are directly affected by these proposals, or whose tasks are affected by these proposals were consulted.”
The bills involved are the Two Status System Act and the Asylum Emergency Measures Act. The two-status system divides asylum seekers into people who are persecuted for their political views, religion, or sexual orientation, and people fleeing from war and violence, with the latter group receiving fewer rights. The Asylum Emergency Measures Act stipulates, among other things, that permanent residence permits will be abolished and that residence permits will have a shorter term.
The Ministry consulted the Council of State, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), and the Council of the Judiciary. But according to the Inspectorate, it too is a “directly involved” organization. As the supervisor of the asylum chain, the Inspectorate is responsible for monitoring how organizations implement asylum legislation.
Incidentally, the institutions the Ministry did consult were all very critical of Faber’s bills, saying that the laws would place an additional burden on the IND and the judiciary, both of which are already drowning in work. The Council of State urged Faber not to implement the laws in this form.
The Cabinet decided to ignore the advice and push through with the laws.
