Coalition party NSC wants to put ankle monitors on rejected asylum seekers

The NSC wants to put ankle monitors on asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies. MP Diederik Boomsma plans to submit that proposal during a parliamentary debate on asylum on Thursday. People going on to live as undocumented migrants after their asylum applications were rejected “undermines the entire asylum system,” he said to the Telegraaf.

The Netherlands detains failed asylum seekers who the authorities believe are not cooperating with the process of deportation. They stay in detention centers, sometimes in prison. Coalition party NSC now wants to go further.

Boomsma wants Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber to work out a plan to track asylum seekers who obstruct their return process by placing ankle monitors on them. These devices are typically used on convicts sentenced to house arrest. “If people refuse to leave, you have to take measures. Now, thousands of people disappear into illegality,” the NSC politician said.

According to Boomsma, ankle monitors will be cheaper than detaining every asylum seeker who does not want to return to the country they fled from, and can also relieve the overcrowded prison system. “Detention, actually detaining them, is a heavy measure. It is very expensive, and we currently have too few cells and guards for criminals in the Netherlands. In that case, an ankle monitor is cheaper and also less drastic. And at the same time, you can prevent people from disappearing into illegality.”