DutchNews.nl - Government firm on long-stay young refugees: no rethink

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Government firm on long-stay young refugees: no rethink

Wednesday 04 July 2012

The government will not re-examine the asylum applications of youngsters who have lived in the Netherlands for more than eight years if they have family with them, immigration minister Gerd Leers told parliament on Tuesday evening.

However, the minister said he is prepared to look again at the applications made by children who arrived in the Netherlands as unaccompanied minors more than eight years ago to see if 'local interests' hold sway.

By this, Leers means how rooted the children are in the communities they live in.

Deportation

Opposition MPs have been urging the government to reconsider the situation of several hundred children who have lived in the Netherlands for more than eight years and now face deportation with or without their parents.

Matters came to a head last year when Leers refused to give a residency permit to 18-year-old Angolan youth Manuel Mauro, who has lived in the Netherlands with the same foster family since he was nine.

Leers says he is worried that a general amnesty for young refugees will encourage more to come to the Netherlands.

It is unclear how http://www.dutchnews.nl/mt3/mt-static/images/formatting-icons/italic.gifmany children are affected. Estimates range from several hundred to around 1,000.

MPs are due to vote on the issue on Thursday, the last day of parliament before the summer recess.

Is Leers right? Have your say using the comment form below.

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Readers' comments (12)

In a nut shell? - If Leers considers money to be more important than human life, then he is capitalistically correct, but ethically & morally wrong, philosophically speaking.

By The visitor | July 4, 2012 8:37 AM

Unless something very strange happens, September 12th we will have a completely different parliament. So this government can be firm on whatever they want. It will last only for a few months.

By pepe | July 4, 2012 9:22 AM

Individual circumstances are terribly sad however Leers is correct

By Phil | July 4, 2012 2:33 PM

It's hard to understand how so many of my country fellows have turned so selfish and inward looking. I guess Leers just want to show that his absurd behaviour was not instigated by a bullying Wilders, but that he is a strong and square person by choice. In my view he is a veline person.

By Herman Koeter | July 4, 2012 5:29 PM

What different does it make with or without parents. what the minister is saying is that those accompanied should be abandoned by their parents, then they can become unaccompany. Minister leer see the situation as a father not as a politician. very soon you will be out of that office, so how do you want history to remember you.

By parker | July 4, 2012 5:43 PM

We are talking about children here! Children should be universally recognised as children and exempt from this madness.

By Anne Onymous | July 5, 2012 12:05 AM

Let Minister Leers says or does what he wants, but if he is a man that hold children responsible for the sins of their parents, history will certainly not remember him in a good way and he will live to regret this decision. Look at the track record of past Ministers who want to play God, today they hide their faces.

By peace | July 5, 2012 9:53 AM

A general amnesty could be given for children already in th country! What's the problem with that?
My question is why are unaccompanied children allowed on a plane?

By Donaugh | July 5, 2012 11:34 AM

@Donaugh: the question is - if amnesty is given to children, who will raise them? Because if you answer "the parents", that would mean giving amnesty to their parents as well, and they willingly, knowingly arrived illegally in the country and should just go away.

By Andre L. | July 5, 2012 9:15 PM

Andre L. foster parents, plenty of couples unable to have kids.

By The visitor | July 7, 2012 6:59 PM

@The visitor: I bet the uproar would be even larger if families would be forcible separated at Schiphol... Imagine the scenes: RTL and NOS filming two sibling in despair and tears and they are handled to a foster family while their own parents are deported.

I still think it is better to keep families unbroken, just not in the Netherlands but in the place they came from.

By Andre L. | July 9, 2012 6:48 PM

"I deserve to be here, but they don't"

Who made some of you think you're more special and deserving to have a better life just because you were lucky enough to have a decent start in the first place in the "right" country??

Just because they were rejected does not mean they aren't JUST as deserving as you of a good life. A law is often made for political reasons, not for reasons of justice. Funny how so many of you scream bloody blue murder if a stupid law affects you personally, but totally support one if it doesn't.

You are not more special. You're just luckier.

By CW | July 9, 2012 8:10 PM