Dutch Plan for Aliens Encounters Resistance; the Netherlands' Bid to Deport 26,000faces Opposition and Logistical Problems

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Byline: David R. Sands, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A leading Dutch immigration expert says the Netherlands faces a severe logistical challenge in implementing a hotly debated new law to expel some 26,000 foreigners who have failed to qualify for asylum by 2006.

Rinus Penninx, academic director of the University of Amsterdam's Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, said during a Washington visit last week that local officials in major Dutch cities are already in open revolt against the federal government's plan.

"Nobody knows how to do it, nobody knows where to put them and nobody knows where they will live," Mr. Penninx said. "The aims of the national policy simply aren't being accepted at the local level."