 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| The Atlantic Affairs Security. Ideologies. Multiculturalism. |
With immigration laws, do not create nationless Others
By Kate Huber
Posted: April 25, 2006
In a country of more than 16 million people with one of the highest
population densities in the world, it is no wonder that the Netherlands
has adjusted their immigration laws over the last five years. New
immigration laws came into effect in April of 2001. These laws make it
more difficult for people to stay permanently in the Netherlands and
therefore have greatly impacted many refugees and asylum seekers.
The socialist Dutch system is very attractive to immigrants because it
offers numerous subsidies ranging from health care and education to
unemployment benefits. However, it also comes with all the rules and
regulations of an enormous bureaucracy. Before 2001, the process of
asking asylum in the Netherlands could take years and asylum
seekers were rarely deported.
In 2003, this all changed when the Dutch parliament voted in
favour of a motion from Minister of Immigration and Integration, Rita
Verdonk, to deport 26,000 people whose asylum had officially been
rejected. However, this deportation process, which includes an
individual’s right of appeal, has been extremely difficult to implement.
Thousands of these asylum seekers have been in the Netherlands for
more than 5 years and do not have papers from their land of origin. In
order to stay in the Netherlands, these people must now prove that
they cannot go back because they are no longer citizens of their
country of origin and that their situation is not their because of their
fault. If the government finds that it is the fault of the asylum seeker
that they can no longer go back, then they are evicted from their homes
and set out on the street.
Although this deportation policy has been highly disputed, it has not
seemed to decrease the enormous popularity of “iron” Rita Verdonk.
Like Pim Fortuyn, Verdonk has a clear and determined way of
speaking and dares to say what many Dutch people already think.
Furthermore, she is resolute about carrying out the law, leaving her
blameless for the problems caused by evicted and deported illegal
aliens.
However, for those whose documents are still being processed, the
wait can be a long one. Many asylum seekers live up to a year in
refugee centres, sharing a room and waiting for their first residency
permit. During this time they may not work or go to school. They
receive 38 euros per week for clothes and food. An initial residency
permit allows refugees to stay in the Netherlands for three years. After
these first three years, refugees may wait three to five years for a
renewal, not knowing from day to day if they may stay.
As many live in uncertainties, others are deported. Additionally, in
the last year the immigration service, the Immigratie-en
Naturalisatiedienst (IND), for which Rita Verdonk is responsible, has
made a number of harmful blunders. In October 2005, there was a
fatal fire at the detention centre at Schiphol airport. There, hundreds of
people for whom asylum has been rejected wait for up to 8 months to
be deported. Eleven asylum seekers died in the fire, one of whom was
later shown to be unjustly held. Although Verdonk said that all the
survivors of the fire would be allowed to stay in the Netherlands as
witnesses until the investigation into the cause of the fire was
completed, six of them have already been prematurely deported.
However, investigators have spoken to 51 of the 85 people who
experienced the fire.
In December 2005, it was discovered that the Dutch government had
mistakenly given information about 102 deported asylum-seekers
from 31 different countries to the nations from which those people had
fled, violating United Nations regulations. In March 2006, the media
reported that father and son of a deported Christian Syrian family had
been arrested and detained upon arrival in Syria. Although Verdonk
apologized for the errors related to the improper disclosure of
information about asylum seekers, she denied that the father and son
were being detained because there was no proof to be obtained from
the Syrian government.
In February 2006 the media reported that Somali communities in the
Netherlands have been smuggling “foster” children into the country
and using them to get more government subsidies. When the children
reach their teens, they are returned to Somalia by their “foster parents”
and left there without money or a passport, with no understanding of
the Somali culture, and speaking only Dutch. Although the IND has
known about this practice since 2002, little seems to have been done
to impede it. In the last year and a half, twenty of these children have
found their way to the Dutch embassy in Ethiopia. But getting to the
embassy is only the first step: In order to return to the Netherlands,
they have to prove that they are Dutch. Unfortunately, they have no
papers.
On Monday, April 10th, it was reported that Indian children living in
refugee centres in the Netherlands have been disappearing into
human trade networks throughout Europe. The central organization for
minors seeking asylum at the IND and Verdonk have known about the
problem since September 2004. Despite this knowledge, 125 Indian
children have disappeared since October 2004.
As immigration laws tighten around the Western world, problems and
human errors will arise. However, it is imperative in adjusting to the
expanding possibilities of global mobility that nations do not create a
nationless “other.” Refugees, asylum seekers and their families must
not be in danger while being detained in or deported from nations in
Europe and the West. In reconciling the tensions between economic
capacity, migration, and multiculturalism, governments must also
ensure the safety of the peoples seeking their protection.
### ### ###
Kate Huber has been a sailor and a wilderness emergency medical
technician for three years. She is an American and reads literary
philosophy and journalism at Leiden University.
By Kate Huber
Posted: April 25, 2006
In a country of more than 16 million people with one of the highest
population densities in the world, it is no wonder that the Netherlands
has adjusted their immigration laws over the last five years. New
immigration laws came into effect in April of 2001. These laws make it
more difficult for people to stay permanently in the Netherlands and
therefore have greatly impacted many refugees and asylum seekers.
The socialist Dutch system is very attractive to immigrants because it
offers numerous subsidies ranging from health care and education to
unemployment benefits. However, it also comes with all the rules and
regulations of an enormous bureaucracy. Before 2001, the process of
asking asylum in the Netherlands could take years and asylum
seekers were rarely deported.
In 2003, this all changed when the Dutch parliament voted in
favour of a motion from Minister of Immigration and Integration, Rita
Verdonk, to deport 26,000 people whose asylum had officially been
rejected. However, this deportation process, which includes an
individual’s right of appeal, has been extremely difficult to implement.
Thousands of these asylum seekers have been in the Netherlands for
more than 5 years and do not have papers from their land of origin. In
order to stay in the Netherlands, these people must now prove that
they cannot go back because they are no longer citizens of their
country of origin and that their situation is not their because of their
fault. If the government finds that it is the fault of the asylum seeker
that they can no longer go back, then they are evicted from their homes
and set out on the street.
Although this deportation policy has been highly disputed, it has not
seemed to decrease the enormous popularity of “iron” Rita Verdonk.
Like Pim Fortuyn, Verdonk has a clear and determined way of
speaking and dares to say what many Dutch people already think.
Furthermore, she is resolute about carrying out the law, leaving her
blameless for the problems caused by evicted and deported illegal
aliens.
However, for those whose documents are still being processed, the
wait can be a long one. Many asylum seekers live up to a year in
refugee centres, sharing a room and waiting for their first residency
permit. During this time they may not work or go to school. They
receive 38 euros per week for clothes and food. An initial residency
permit allows refugees to stay in the Netherlands for three years. After
these first three years, refugees may wait three to five years for a
renewal, not knowing from day to day if they may stay.
As many live in uncertainties, others are deported. Additionally, in
the last year the immigration service, the Immigratie-en
Naturalisatiedienst (IND), for which Rita Verdonk is responsible, has
made a number of harmful blunders. In October 2005, there was a
fatal fire at the detention centre at Schiphol airport. There, hundreds of
people for whom asylum has been rejected wait for up to 8 months to
be deported. Eleven asylum seekers died in the fire, one of whom was
later shown to be unjustly held. Although Verdonk said that all the
survivors of the fire would be allowed to stay in the Netherlands as
witnesses until the investigation into the cause of the fire was
completed, six of them have already been prematurely deported.
However, investigators have spoken to 51 of the 85 people who
experienced the fire.
In December 2005, it was discovered that the Dutch government had
mistakenly given information about 102 deported asylum-seekers
from 31 different countries to the nations from which those people had
fled, violating United Nations regulations. In March 2006, the media
reported that father and son of a deported Christian Syrian family had
been arrested and detained upon arrival in Syria. Although Verdonk
apologized for the errors related to the improper disclosure of
information about asylum seekers, she denied that the father and son
were being detained because there was no proof to be obtained from
the Syrian government.
In February 2006 the media reported that Somali communities in the
Netherlands have been smuggling “foster” children into the country
and using them to get more government subsidies. When the children
reach their teens, they are returned to Somalia by their “foster parents”
and left there without money or a passport, with no understanding of
the Somali culture, and speaking only Dutch. Although the IND has
known about this practice since 2002, little seems to have been done
to impede it. In the last year and a half, twenty of these children have
found their way to the Dutch embassy in Ethiopia. But getting to the
embassy is only the first step: In order to return to the Netherlands,
they have to prove that they are Dutch. Unfortunately, they have no
papers.
On Monday, April 10th, it was reported that Indian children living in
refugee centres in the Netherlands have been disappearing into
human trade networks throughout Europe. The central organization for
minors seeking asylum at the IND and Verdonk have known about the
problem since September 2004. Despite this knowledge, 125 Indian
children have disappeared since October 2004.
As immigration laws tighten around the Western world, problems and
human errors will arise. However, it is imperative in adjusting to the
expanding possibilities of global mobility that nations do not create a
nationless “other.” Refugees, asylum seekers and their families must
not be in danger while being detained in or deported from nations in
Europe and the West. In reconciling the tensions between economic
capacity, migration, and multiculturalism, governments must also
ensure the safety of the peoples seeking their protection.
### ### ###
Kate Huber has been a sailor and a wilderness emergency medical
technician for three years. She is an American and reads literary
philosophy and journalism at Leiden University.
| I N S I G H T -------- European Imams Kate Huber Jack Jihad C Beenfeldt Fatal Britain Civitas Report Escalation, Death ASH Smyth 'Clear Wine' Kate Huber Nationalizing Kids Patricia Morgan Escalation, Death ASH Smyth India Matters Condi Rice |
| (c) 2006 New Criterion Foundation, London |