Dutch asylum agency is fined 50,000 euros daily for an overcrowded center

A Dutch tribunal has ordered nan agency responsible for lodging asylum seekers to salary a 50,000-euro ($54,000) punishment for each time that much than 2,000 migrants enactment astatine an overcrowded halfway successful nan bluish Netherlands

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Dutch tribunal connected Wednesday ordered nan agency responsible for lodging asylum-seekers to salary a 50,000-euro ($54,000) punishment for each time that much than 2,000 migrants enactment astatine an overcrowded halfway successful nan bluish Netherlands that has go a awesome for nan country's clogged asylum system.

The municipality that is location to nan Ter Apel halfway brought a summary lawsuit against nan statement successful a bid to unit it to relocate migrants to forestall breaches of a 2010 statement that group 2,000 group arsenic nan maximum capacity.

The lawsuit comes amid a heated nationalist statement connected migration and moves by nan hard-right dominated Dutch authorities to scrap a rule that compels municipalities to location asylum-seekers.

Ter Apel is nan astir precocious floor plan illustration of a Dutch asylum strategy that is burdened pinch lengthy ineligible battles by migrants seeking to enactment successful nan state and increasing guidance to centers lodging them.

In 2022, hundreds of migrants were forced to sleep outdoors adjacent nan Ter Apel halfway successful squalid conditions and Dutch assistance agencies scrambled to supply aesculapian and different assistance. The business has improved small since past pinch regular overcrowding.

The Northern Netherlands District Court ordered nan accommodation organization, known by its Dutch acronym COA, to bring nan number of asylum-seekers successful Ter Apel beneath 2,000 wrong 2 weeks. If it fails, nan statement will person to salary a 50,000-euro punishment each time nan number is exceeded up to a maximum of 5 cardinal euros.

In January, nan aforesaid tribunal made a akin order, but imposed a punishment of 15,000 euros per time up to a maximum of 1.5 cardinal euros.

There was nary contiguous guidance from COA aliases nan municipality to Wednesday's tribunal ruling.

It came days aft nan ruling conjugation announced unprecedented measures aimed astatine reining successful migration, including a reintroduction of separator checks, making nan Netherlands nan latest European federation to return a hard-line stance against migration arsenic anti-foreigner sentiment surges passim overmuch of nan continent.

The four-party conjugation was formed aft months of wrangling that followed a stunning predetermination triumph for Geert Wilders ' Party for Freedom that campaigned connected pledges to drastically trim migration.

The announcement comes a week aft European Union leaders looked astatine ways to tackle migration and move nan 27-nation bloc into a Fortress Europe aft years of striking a much welcoming tone. Germany, 1 of nan Netherlands’ neighbors, besides precocious reintroduced immoderate separator checks and nan new French government has besides pledged a tougher attack to migration.

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