Migrant workers working in Netherlands found living in squalor Germany

Authorities in Germany raided a squalid housing complex where Dutch and Polish companies placed migrant workers. The facilities, located just across the German border near Roermond and Venlo, were inspected on Monday evening.

Several units were closed because of life-threatening conditions there, including some without heating. About 70 Polish and Romanian workers were housed in the units. They work for Dutch meat industry companies or Polish logistics or construction businesses.

All of the employment agencies involved provided work in the Netherlands. The agencies that hired the workers placed them in living quarters “where they had to pay extremely high rent,” said Social Affairs Minister Josef Laumann for the German state of Nordrhein Westfalen (NRW) on Tuesday.

A large number of police officers descended on six housing complexes in Nettetal and Brüggen, where the mistreated workers were housed. Three of the properties in Nettetal were in such poor condition that the residents were in a life-threatening situation. Fire safety rules were not followed, and there were not enough safe exits in case of an emergency. The buildings were immediately evacuated.

Just for a bed, the migrant workers had to pay 90 euros in rent per week, they said. These were placed in rooms for a minimum of two workers. The authorities involved in the raids called these rents extortionate.

According to the German authorities, companies active in the Netherlands buy relatively cheap homes and residential complexes in the German border area, which they then rent out at high prices to migrant workers from eastern and southeastern Europe. According to the Germans, these workers are often recruited with false promises and then housed in dubious accommodations.

This was the fourth significant campaign against housing provided by Dutch companies in the German-Dutch border area. The German authorities raided housing in Geldern and Emmerich in February, Goch in May, and Gronau and Sudlohn in November.

The NRW’s Ministries of Social Affairs and Housing and the European labor authority ELA participated in the action. Polish and Romanian authorities were also involved in the raids.