Fw: Dutch government approves amnesty for 25,000 rejected asylum-seekers

[RichardP]

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From: open_sesame <open_...@btinternet.com>
To: Undisclose...@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 May, 2007 11:22:05 AM
Subject: Dutch government approves amnesty for 25,000 rejected asylum-seekers

Dear St.James' recipient,

 

Many of you will have noted the well reported 10.000 attending the Workers' Mass in Westminster Cathedral followed by the Trafalgar Square demonstration of 'illegal' immigrants on the May Bank Holiday 07/05/07.

 

That movement, 'Strangers into Citizens' ( www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk ) to public attention the  'problem' of the unwanted foreign poor,  shared with other European member states.

 

Here is the Dutch solution to 'Sans-Papiers' and 'Unremoveables'. It contrasts starkly with our own UK immigration minister, Liam Byrne, stubborn  refusal  to accept that of that half a million in civic limbo, ex asylum seekers, illegals, overstayers who settled with families, most cannot be repatriated.

 

I hope you , our church, your professional body, will also want to support the campaign by 'Strangers into Citizens', and end the destitution and uncertainty of so many in Britain who could make a good contribution to our society, our cultural life,  our economy, and  our tax base......Check the website how.....!

 

Yours sincerely

 

Puck de Raadt

The Bail Circle

Churches Commission for Racial Justice.

==================================================

 

Dutch government approves amnesty for 25,000 rejected asylum-seekers

By Toby Sterling Amsterdam, Netherlands AP May 26, 2007

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070526-0237-netherlands-i mmigration.html

- Some 25,000 asylum-seekers whose applications for refuge were rejected will be allowed to stay, the newly installed Dutch government said Saturday, reversing the previous administration's hardline immigration policy.

The Cabinet approved the plan crafted by Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak, the country's top immigration official, in the early hours of the morning after a marathon session Friday.

"The foreigners who will be granted a permit on the basis of this ruling must find a place in Dutch society," the Cabinet said in a statement. "That means not only education and work, but also integration and housing."

The amnesty will apply to asylum-seekers who arrived before April 1, 2001 and were found not to qualify but who remained in the country anyway.

"This is the end of a hopeless situation for many people," said Edwin Huizing, director of the country's main immigrant aid organization Vluchtelingenwerk, praising the decision. "They finally have a future to look forward to."

Under Albayrak's predecessor Rita Verdonk, 11,000 such people left or were deported, 4,200 forcibly. New arrivals are confined in "Departure Centers" while their applications are processed.

Human rights and Christian groups had criticized Verdonk's policies, and the treatment of asylum seekers was a polarizing issue during November elections in which Verdonk's conservative VVD Party lost ground.

Parliament called for a general amnesty and a halt to forced deportations in its first official acts after reconvening in December. Verdonk, in a caretaker function, refused, and was removed from her immigration duties as a result.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's Christian Democrat party eventually was able to reform a centrist government with Labor and a small Christian values party, the ChristenUnie.

It had been clear the amnesty would be granted since the new government took office in February, but Balkenende's government held off announcing any specific policy details in its first 100 days in office, which ended Monday.