Posted on 09/30/2005 6:19:36 PM PDT by blam
'Iron Lady' wants to kick out foreign petty crooks
By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 01/10/2005)
Foreigners living in Holland who repeatedly commit petty crimes will face deportation, under plans announced by the country's immigration minister yesterday.
The shift in policy lowers the legal threshold for deporting immigrants holding Dutch residence permits.
At the moment, they face expulsion only for serious crimes, such as kidnapping or murder.
The policy change was put to the cabinet by the "Iron Lady" of Dutch politics, Rita Verdonk.
A spokesman for Mrs Verdonk said she took action after an advisory panel urged the government to "do something about criminals from abroad, who are committing a lot of small crimes."
Currently, immigration officers can only move to expel foreign residents if they are sentenced to jail terms for "serious offences", under a complex formula that also takes into account the length of time they have spent in the country.
Once a foreigner has lived in Holland for at least three years only a jail term of more than six months can trigger the withdrawal of a residence permit.
Arnoud Strijbis, a spokesman for Mrs Verdonk, said the new policy would not lead to people being expelled from Holland "for stealing a loaf of bread".
But, he said: "If you are caught repeatedly stealing car radios, then you will be sent out of the country. Basically, if you see the inside of a police station every week, you will have a problem, At the moment, that is not the case."
Expulsions will be decided by immigration officers, and foreigners will be able to appeal against their rulings in the Dutch courts.
Last month, the Dutch government adopted a controversial Bill to force immigrants to take language and culture classes, even if they have been Dutch residents for many years. The classes will be accompanied by "Dutchness" exams, covering a basic knowledge of language, history and social mores.
The exams must be taken by newly arriving immigrants, welfare recipients, foreign clerics and immigrants raising children.
The Dutch have quietly been one of our staunchest allies.
I know little of their politics, do they have themselves a Thatcher?
Parking ticket should be enough to boot the pukes.
The Dutch are weird. On the one hand they have sensible politicians like this, on the other hand they have infant-euthenasia and the recent three-way marriage.
On the one had we have Bennett and on the other Kennedy. Get it?
"The Dutch are weird."
The only way that the Dutch can maintain a libertarian social policy is to have a fairly rigid society, one that basically does the work of most countries legal systems.
Okay, okay.
Whoops!
Sorry.
It was worth saying twice.
That goes double for me!
"Foreigners living in Holland who repeatedly commit petty crimes will face deportation"
Heck we will not even kick out illegal immigrants.
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