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Cities do not want illegals premium

10 December 2006 – Police corpses will receive a premium if they succeed in arresting 11,883 undocumented immigrants next year. The Amsterdam city council wants rid of this illegals premium and has asked the mayor to renegotiate with the national government. Other cities, including The Hague, are following suit.

At the initiative of Minister Rita Verdonk, the illegals premium was included in the performance contract with the corpses. District council member Jelle Houtsma (Social Democrat PvdA) said the idea made him sick and called on the city administration to show political courage. In October, the city council passed a motion asking the mayor to renegotiate with the government after the elections, in order to have the illegals premium abolished.

Similar initiatives are being taken elsewhere. Judith Sargentini, party leader of GroenLinks (Green Party) and the council member who introduced the motion, has been approached by council members from cities including Velsen, Utrecht, Enschede and Deventer. The Velsen city council passed a similar motion. The Mayor of Groningen recently, urged by D66 (Social-Liberals), GroenLinks, PvdA, Socialist Party (SP), ChristenUnie (Christian Union), Student en Stad (Student and City) and Stadspartij (City Party), promised to do his best to have the illegals premium abolished.

In The Hague, GroenLinks, Haagse Stadspartij (The Hague City Party), ChristenUnie/SGP, D66 and SP have asked questions about the premium. Mayor Wim Deetman has given rather evasive answers, which will be discussed by the city council next week. It is to be expected that the parties just mentioned will pass a motion comparable to the one of the Amsterdam city council, said Joris Wijsmuller (Haagse Stadspartij). The Islam Democrats will probably support the motion as well. An interesting question is whether the CDA (Christian Democrats) will support the motion.

In Rotterdam, the SP has asked questions, but the PvdA seems little interested. Party Leader Peter van Heemst earlier commented to News from Amsterdam that there is in the Rotterdam PvdA ‘no strong feeling of indignation’ about the issue. As long as the police operate in a ‘restrained’ way, there is no problem, Van Heemst says. Asked to explain the difference with the Amsterdam PvdA, which supported a motion against the performance agreements, Van Heemst prided himself in Rotterdam being a ‘more practical’ city.

In the cities of Hoorn, Zaanstad, Tilburg, Leeuwarden, Drachten and the province of Friesland, the illegals premium has been called into question.

More: Illegals premium called into question

 

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