The European Commission on Wednesday criticised the Dutch government’s plan to make being an illegal immigrant a crime, reports news agency ANP.

Criminalising illegal immigrants is against EU rules on deportation, the commission said. It is also against EU rules to imprison people on the grounds of their nationality alone.
The new government has not yet drafted a new law making it a criminal offence but European MPs who wrote to the commission are pleased with the response.
‘It will now be extremely difficult for the government to draft a bill that will be accepted by Brussels,’ Socialist MP Dennis de Jong told the Volkskrant.