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Madness: Amnesty for Aliens
11/06/2009 :: Last July, the Belgian government decided to grant official papers to illegal aliens who can demonstrate that they have “sufficiently integrated” into the country. The government says it expects that some 25,000 illegal aliens will apply for the amnesty. A high ranking civil servant of the Federal Agency for Aliens told the press, however, that his agency thinks the number of beneficiaries will be as high as 350,000 people. “This amnesty is madness,” he said. “Our agency expects that one in every three is going to apply for welfare benefits.” (Het Laatste Nieuws, Sept. 17, 2009)
The Belgian regularization also drew a lot of criticism from neighbouring countries, such as France and the Netherlands, including the Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende.
Belgium is a member of the European Union. Under EU rules, people who legally reside in one of the member states, are allowed to legally reside in the other 26 member states as well. Belgium’s critics say that its legalization of illegal immigrants will lead to “social security tourism” in Europe.
Benefits
The illegal immigrants must fulfil a number of conditions, such as having learned one of Belgium’s official languages. Because there are far more aliens who speak French than Dutch, especially when their country of origin is a French-speaking nation in Northern Africa, immigration is a demographic boost to the French-speaking element in Belgium. This explains why the French-speaking parties had been pushing very hard for the amnesty of the illegal aliens. A previous regularisation of illegal immigrants dates from 1999-2000.
The Vlaams Belang was the most outspoken opponent of the amnesty. VB Senator Freddy Van Gaever warns that since the regularised aliens are entitled to welfare benefits, the measure will lead to a run on welfare benefits. Half of the aliens who were regularised in 1999-2000 received benefits as a result; many of them are still on welfare today.
“The decision to grant an amnesty to illegal aliens is irresponsible,” says Senator Van Gaever. “It tarnishes our international reputation and drains our welfare system.”
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