The highest general administrative court in the Netherlands, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Dutch Council of State, addressed on March 4 the measure on long-term resident migrant children, better known as the “pardon for children,” in four judgments. In all cases the former state secretary for security and justice, Fred Teeven*, refused to issue residence permits on the basis of the measure because the aliens concerned would have avoided supervision.

The measure states that aliens qualify for a residence permit if they haven’t avoided supervision. According to Mr. Teeven, aliens meet this requirement when they’re monitored by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers, the Repatriation and Departure Service, the Aliens Police or guardianship agency Nidos.

In the opinion of the Council of State, an active stance by the illegal alien in order to stay in sight of the above-mentioned agencies is to be expected. The fact that an alien has maintained contact with other authorities, such as a municipality, is insufficient because those authorities are not charged with the implementation of alien policy, the Council of State argues.

The state secretary assumes that he loses an alien out of sight as soon as his asylum applications have been rejected, and that the alien has to put in an effort to get back on the radar of the Repatriation and Departure Service. In this respect, the Council of State does not agree with Mr. Teeven. The fact that the Repatriation and Departure Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service report to the state secretary does not mean that an alien is lost from sight by the mere circumstance that he’s exhausted all legal remedies.

Update: * Fred Teeven, the state secretary for security and justice, has resigned on March 9 following revelations about a 4.7 million guilder payment to a convicted drugs baron in 2001.