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Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Why did the Dutch government collapse and what's next?
The Dutch government collapsed on Tuesday after far-right politician Geert Wilders pulled out of the right-wing coalition after a dispute over anti-immigration measures his party had proposed. Wilders' decision prompted the Dutch cabinet and Prime Minister Dick Schoof to resign. Here is what triggered the government's collapse, and what happens next: Wilders announced the withdrawal of his right-wing party, the Party for Freedom (PVV), from the 11-month-old right-wing Netherlands coalition government. Wilders said the other three parties in the coalition had failed to back his plans to crack down on asylum for refugees. 'No signature under our asylum plans. The PVV leaves the coalition,' Wilders wrote in an X post on Tuesday after a brief meeting in parliament with party leaders. Besides PVV, the coalition comprised People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) and the New Social Contract (NSC). On May 26, Wilders announced a 10-point plan to extensively slash migration, deploying army officials at the Dutch land borders and rejecting all asylum seekers. Wilders threatened, back then, that his party would pull out of the coalition if migration policy was not toughened. The four parties cumulatively held 88 seats in the country's 150-seat House of Representatives. The PVV won the latest November 2023 election with 23 percent of the vote and 37 seats, the highest number of seats in the parliament out of all parties. The majority mark in the House is 76 seats. The withdrawal leaves the coalition with only 51 seats. After Wilders announced the withdrawal, an emergency cabinet meeting was called. After this, Schoof announced that he would step down, hours after the PVV withdrawal. 'I have told party leaders repeatedly in recent days that the collapse of the cabinet would be unnecessary and irresponsible,' Schoof said in the emergency cabinet meeting. 'We are facing major challenges both nationally and internationally that require decisiveness from us.' Other leaders in the coalition called Wilders 'irresponsible' and blamed him for putting his own political interests ahead of the country. 'There is a war on our continent. Instead of meeting the challenge, Wilders is showing he is not willing to take responsibility,' said Dilan Yesilgoz, leader of the VVD, which has 24 seats in the the House. 'It is irresponsible to take down the government at this point,' NSC leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven said about Wilders. The NSC has 20 seats. Head of the opposition GreenLeft-Labour alliance Frans Timmermans said he could 'see no other way to form a stable government' than early elections. Schoof will now formally submit his resignation to the head of state, Dutch King Willem-Alexander. After this, elections are expected to be called. It is likely that the election will be held sometime in October or November, based on previous cycles. As of May 31, polls show that Wilders' PVV has lost a little of its support, from 23 percent in the 2023 election to 20 percent. This brings the party almost at par with the GreenLeft-Labour alliance, which has 19 percent of support and 25 seats in the lower house of parliament, the second highest number of seats after the PVV. The fragmented politics of the Netherlands makes it difficult to predict which party will win the election. It is unlikely for a single party to win the 76-seat majority and it takes months for a coalition to form. According to the Dutch election authority's data, no single party has ever won a majority since the first direct elections in 1848. Schoof has said he and the other ministers of the coalition will continue with their positions in a caretaker government until a new government is formed after elections. The political crisis comes as the Netherlands is scheduled to host a summit of NATO leaders at The Hague on June 24-25. Mark Rutte, the current secretary-general of NATO, was the prime minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024. Rutte was affiliated with the VVD. Schoof had also been involved in European efforts to provide support to Ukraine in its war against Russia. In February, the Dutch PM was present at a meeting with other European leaders in Paris where the leaders pledged to provide Ukraine with security guarantees.
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Trump administration sets quota to arrest 3,000 people a day in anti-immigration agenda
The Trump administration has set aggressive new goals in its anti-immigration agenda, demanding that federal agents arrest 3,000 people a day – or more than a million in a year. The new target, tripling arrest figures from earlier this year, was delivered to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) leaders by Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, and Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, in a strained meeting last week. The intense meeting, first reported by Axios and confirmed by the Guardian, involved Ice officials from enforcement and removal operations (ERO) and homeland security investigations (HSI) – both separate offices within DHS. ERO is in charge of immigration enforcement, including arrests, detention and deportation, while HSI typically focuses on investigating transnational crime, such as drug trafficking, human smuggling and the spread of online child abuse. The 21 May meeting in Washington DC is the latest example of the increasing pressure being placed on officials nationwide to increase the number of arrests of immigrants, as the administration doubles down on its anti-immigration agenda. The latest phase of the crackdown includes new tactics, such as mandating federal law enforcement agents outside Ice to assist in arrests and transports, more deputizing of compliant state and local law enforcement agencies, and arresting people at locations that were once protected, like courthouses. ' This administration came into office with the illusion that they had been given a broad mandate to effectuate an aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, and they are doubling down now on that agenda,' said Nayna Gupta, policy director for the American Immigration Council. ' Public polling is showing decreasing support for Trump's immigration agenda, as Americans wake up to the reality that mass deportation means arrests of our neighbors and friends, masked agents in our communities and people afraid to go to work and show up to school, in ways that undermine our local economies.' Helter-skelter action has led to citizens caught up in the dragnet, Ice skirting due process – to the chagrin of the supreme court and lower courts, over-crowding in detention centers, arrests based on ideology and officials deporting people to third countries. 'The sweeping Ice raids and arrests are hitting families, longtime residents, children and communities in a way never seen before,' said Jesse Franzblau, associate director of policy for the National Immigrant Justice Center. As the number of people crossing the border into the US without authorization has plummeted even further than the final Biden crackdown, operations in the US interior have increased. 'Under Secretary Noem, we are delivering on President Trump's and the American people's mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe,' Tricia McLaughlin, the homeland security assistant secretary, said in a statement. But even if the new target is fulfilled, it's a far cry from Trump's election campaign pledges to deport 15m to 20m people, which itself is more than the estimated 11m undocumented population. Agents with the DEA, FBI, HSI, ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies have been co-opted from normal priorities to carry out immigration enforcement work. Current and former federal officials told the Guardian there is concern that important non-immigration related investigations are falling by the wayside as a result. There has also been a huge escalation by local police and sheriff departments assisting, deputized by Ice to perform federal immigration arrests under a program called 287(g). And Ice has also been targeting unusual places. On Tuesday, Ice and several other federal law enforcement agencies arrested around 40 people on the Massachusetts islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The US Coast Guard transported those apprehended, Ice said, angering some residents, local media reported. The agency has also been arresting people at courthouses throughout the country – a trend that has troubled advocates and policy analysts. 'We're seeing the Trump administration take the unprecedented step of arresting non-citizens who are following the government's rules and procedures, and showing up for their court hearings,' said Gupta. ' They are desperate to reach a certain number of arrests per day. And the only way they can find non-citizens easily and quickly is to go to the courthouses, where they [immigrants] are doing exactly what they're supposed to do.' On Wednesday, sources told the Guardian that officials arrested people at two separate immigration courts in New York City. The outlet the City observed seven people arrested in a lower Manhattan court. Internal documents accessed by the Washington Post show Ice officers in more than 20 states have been instructed to arrest people at courthouses immediately after a judge orders them deported or after their criminal cases are dropped and they try to leave. Numbers held in detention by Ice reached 49,000 by 18 May, an increase of more than 10,000 since Trump took office, with the agency using local jails and federal prisons to hold immigrants, amid overcrowding. Austin Kocher, an assistant research professor at Syracuse University who closely tracks immigration detention data, said of the 3,000 daily arrest quota: ' The big question for me is: where are they going to put people?' Meanwhile, last month, the Trump administration ordered immigration judges to quickly dismiss cases by denying asylum seekers a hearing. The directive 'has nothing to do with efficiency – it's about slamming shut the courthouse door on people who have the right to seek asylum and a fair day in court,' Shayna Kessler, the director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice, said. On Capitol Hill, the major spending bill passed by the House would balloon spending for immigration enforcement, at the US-Mexico border and in the interior, while cutting everyday services. 'The administration is on a reckless spending spree, counting on Congress to bail them out for overspending hundreds of millions of dollars in private prison contracts with ties to top level officials,' Franzblau said. He concluded: 'It is beyond cruel to superfund Ice's rampant violations of constitutional protections and expand the deadly immigration detention and enforcement apparatus.'
Times
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Bruno Retailleau: could he be France's next president?
A year or so ago Bruno Retailleau was a marginal figure on the French political stage, little known outside his west coast bastion and dismissed by commentators as uncharismatic. Now the man who entered politics on horseback is being talked about as a possible right-wing saviour after being elected as head of the opposition Republicans party on a tough anti-immigration programme. The election was another step in the rise that began last autumn when Retailleau, 64, was appointed interior minister and went on to adopt a notably hard line that seems to be in tune with French public opinion. Long considered an able deputy to France's frontline rightwing political leaders, he is said to be dreaming of a run for the presidency himself in 2027.
Irish Times
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Coolock U-turn does not offer protesters model for blocking asylum seeker centres elsewhere, says Minister
Minister of State for Integration Colm Brophy has denied that the Government has provided anti-immigration protesters with a model for blocking asylum seeker accommodation after the scrapping of plans for a centre in Coolock. Last week the Department of Justice scrapped plans to open a controversial 547-bed facility at the privately-owned former Crown Paints site in the north Dublin suburb. The site was the scene of violent clashes last year between gardaí and protesters. There has been Opposition criticism of the Government in the wake of the U-turn. READ MORE On Sunday, Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin argued that the Government had 'made a bags' of the plans to locate the accommodation centre for people seeking international protection in Coolock. He told RTÉ radio the proposal 'could have been a template for a success story' but he criticised the level of consultation with the community and said: 'we felt that the protesters had more information than anybody who was trying to work with a sense of goodwill'. 'And it feels now, at this point, that the protesters effectively have won because the project has been pulled.' In an email to local representatives last week, the Department of Justice said the prolonged nature of the proposed centre's progress through development and planning were 'significant factors' in the decision to drop the project. 'All offers of international protection accommodation are appraised according to a range of factors, including the site and its potential, value for money to the State, planning matters and any works required to meet the required standards,' the message stated. Speaking on the same broadcast as Mr Ó Ríordáin on Sunday, Mr Brophy said he and Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan want to see the International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) programme 'led by having state-acquired property, state-run, IPAS centres'. He said that 'in the long run' it is a 'process that will actually be good for the taxpayer'. Mr Brophy also said: 'We will still have a requirement for IPAS centres' and added: 'we do learn from every experience, and particularly around things like community engagement'. Put to him that the U-turn on the Coolock site has provided a model for those opposed to such centres elsewhere, Mr Brophy replied: 'No, because that won't actually work. 'What is actually important to remember is that we have many, many IPAS centres operating right around the country. 'We have very good community buy-in, and we have communities and people who are in IPAS centres, working together, coming together, regarding themselves as part of a greater or more integrated community.' Mr Brophy added: 'We have a model, we believe, through our community engagement team – and through the work that myself and Minister O'Callahan want to do in this area to make sure that we will have a programme which has also got a very good state-owned and state run facilities. 'And I think that's going to be part of making the operation of IPAS a success.' On Saturday The Irish Times reported that the Government is planning a significant expansion of asylum seeker accommodation at Dublin's Citywest Hotel as it closes in on a purchase of the facility worth at least €100 million. The hotel has been a cornerstone of the State's response to a surge in migration, with Government sources now saying the final steps are being taken towards a purchase of the 764-bedroom hotel, which has been expected since before Christmas. It is believed that if the plan is put in place, it will potentially lead to a doubling of the capacity there – with indications that up to 1,000 more people could be accommodated. Cabinet is expected to consider the purchase, possibly as soon as Tuesday.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
About 200 protesters demonstrate against immigration enforcement in South Nashville
A gathering of about 200 people demonstrated on the corner of Nolensville Road and Harding Pike on May 17, chanting their opposition to anti-immigration actions and closing out two weeks of ICE operations in Nashville that resulted in the arrest of 196 immigrants and left community members reeling. The protest, largely organized by the Nashville Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), held signs stating slogans such as "Jesus was an immigrant," "Immigrants belong," and "Am I not entitled to due process?" while standing on the street corner where the first round of arrests were made on May 4. "ICE and Tennessee Highway Patrol have been terrorizing the working-class people of Nashville," said Lindy Drolsum, a member of the Nashville PSL, as she spoke into a bullhorn in front of a chorus of supportive honks from passing drivers. "All day, every day, they have been racially profiling our community members and using minor traffic violations to pull people over in traffic stops. "These are our friends. Our neighbors. The people that make Music City the great place it is," she added. "But ICE doesn't think so. They claim they cleaned our city up for us." The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which oversee the THP, in a statement said it "categorically rejects any suggestion that our troopers engage in racial profiling or target individuals based on ethnicity, race, or national origin." Drolsum told reporters later she was inspired to come to the protest partially because she is from U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles' district. Ogles, who represents Tennessee's 5th Congressional district, has been outspoken on social media and national news over the past few days, calling on two congressional committees to investigate Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell and other city officials over what he called 'their repeated efforts to obstruct lawful ICE operations.' Ogles also shared the flier for the May 17 protest on various social media platforms, tagging the official ICE account saying "y'all should get some agents here." "This is clear intimidation against our right to peacefully protest," Drolsum said. "One thing that's really important is that there is less fear for some of us (to protest) than others," she added. "Some of us have documentation ... and so we need to use that privilege. So many people can't. You can hear them driving by and honking — people who are going to work, or are scared leaving their homes and can't come out here today. So it's important for those of us who can to use our voice." More: Nashville immigrant, 19, went out for ice cream, ended up detained by ICE and sent to Louisiana Tanya WIlliams, a participant of the protest and a member of the activist group Indivisible Tennessee, clutched her sign that said "Trail of Tears 2025" as she described how "shocking" the aggressive immigration enforcement across the country has been. "I'm a mom," she said, shaking her head. "This is not right what's going on here. They're tearing families apart and rounding them up like cattle. It's inhumane." The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@ by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Protesters demonstrate against immigration enforcement in South Nashville
