ANNP Marechaussees at the registration center in Ter Apel
NOS News•today, 04:33•Changed today, 08:25
Cooperation with Morocco regarding the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers is now “almost ideal”, says State Secretary Van der Burg (Asylum) in De Telegraaf. According to an asylum lawyer, asylum seekers detained because they have no chance of remaining here are deported within a few weeks.
In the first eleven months of 2023, the Netherlands deported 250 rejected asylum seekers to Morocco. This is the highest figure in the last ten years, reports the Returns and Departures Service. Another 700 people are expected to follow within six months.
For years Morocco refused to take back its nationals, but in recent years the government has invested heavily in improving relations. State Secretary Van der Burg, for example, managed to strike deals with the Moroccan Interior Minister last year, while his predecessor Broekers-Knol was still frustrated.
Morocco stopped accepting asylum seekers who had exhausted all legal remedies after the Netherlands criticized Morocco’s crackdown on a protest movement in the Rif mountains. To improve relations, the government has decided to talk less about Morocco’s internal affairs.
New problems
Although the situation is “almost ideal”, Van der Burg sees that the newcomers are adapting to the stricter policy. They often do not wait for their application to be rejected, but soon disappear into illegality. “This is our problem now.”
“They know perfectly well that they will not be able to stay and that if they are rejected they will be put in immigration detention,” the minister said. Before this can happen, rejected asylum seekers move to unknown locations in the Netherlands or another EU country.
Last year, according to the Returns and Departures Service, around a thousand asylum seekers arrived from Morocco.
2024-01-22 03:33:41
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