Bunschoten council votes to explore court bid against asylum law

Bunschoten's municipal council has voted to investigate what legal steps the town can take against the national dispersal law, the Spreidingswet. CAP, VVD, CDA and SGP backed a motion asking whether forced reception of asylum seekers can be "significantly delayed or stopped altogether" through the courts.

Under the law, Bunschoten must provide 137 reception places for asylum seekers. The municipality must present a strategy to asylum minister Van den Brink before 19 November.

The motion also asks the council to look at whether the national government can be forced by legal means to cut the number of asylum seekers, speed up procedures and send back "hopeless" asylum seekers faster. It proposes doing so together with like-minded municipalities that refuse reception.

The ChristenUnie, the largest party on the council, was the only one not to support it. Its group leader, Alma Broekmaat-Hagens, said a legal fight with central government does not help build support. "As far as we're concerned, the council should be focused on finding solutions that are fair to residents and to our legal responsibility," she said.

A second motion, adopted unanimously, sets out thirteen demands for the strategy. They include taking in no more asylum seekers than the law requires, a scale that always fits Bunschoten, no displacement of local residents, and the national government and COA paying all costs.

Alderman Dolf Huijgen (CAP), who has under two weeks to finish the strategy, said the executive will follow the motion as far as possible. "We see some hurdles and caveats about whether it is all feasible, but the thrust is clear to us."

Before the debate, all council groups condemned the violence at Wednesday evening's protest against an asylum centre. Alfred de Graaf of CAP De Dorpspartij said: "We understand residents' concerns very well. We share them." Having concerns, he stressed, does not mean you may use violence.