We, from AHRU (Alliance for the Human Rights of the Undocumented), condemn the raids and arrests of undocumented migrants of different nationalities carried out by the police in The Hague in the early morning of June 24. The simultaneous raids on several apartments were conducted in Nazi-like fashion with the raiding teams forcing their way in when the residents refused to open the doors.
According to our information, 29 people were arrested among them 12 Filipinos, 7 Indonesians and the rest belonging to other nationalities. Their laptops, cellphones, iPads and passports were seized. They were interrogated for 12 hours, released from detention but instructed to report back on July 8 for the start of their deportation procedures.
Some months ago, undocumented migrants were also arrested in The Hague and in addition their employers were slapped with stiff fines of 12,000 euros!
Is running after undocumented migrants now a top priority of law enforcement in The Netherlands? Shouldn’t the government instruct the police to concentrate on running after real criminals instead?
We are obliged to ask the question. Is the rabid anti-migrant prejudices of Geert Wilders now the dominant thinking among the current crop of Dutch politicians and policy makers? Does Geert Wilders now determine the migration policy of the Rutte government? For how can one explain these Nazi-like raids targeting peaceful migrants whose main reason for being in the Netherlands is to do socially-necessary and beneficial work for Dutch society? Intolerance and narrow thinking seems to dominate the minds of the current set of policy makers.
In truth, there is a great demand for domestic workers in The Netherlands. All these years thousands of Dutch families have been benefiting from the services of migrant domestic workers. Instead of deporting undocumented but hard working and peaceful migrants, the Dutch government should solve the problem of their irregular status by granting them working permit.
We in AHRU are Dutch citizens and citizens of other countries living and working in the Netherlands who have banded together to defend and advance the rights of undocumented migrants. We base ourselves on the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families which states that undocumented migrants despite their irregular status are entitled to human rights too seroquel online.