THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A pair of bills cracking down on asylum-seekers wishing to settle in the Netherlands has passed in the Dutch parliament after wrangling and soul-searching by some lawmakers who feared the law would criminalize offering compassionate help to undocumented migrants.
The legislation cuts temporary asylum residency from five to three years, indefinitely suspends the issuance of new asylum residency permits and reins in family reunions for people who have been granted asylum. It passed in the lower house late Thursday evening but could still be rejected in the upper house.
The Dutch Red Cross has estimated 23,000 to 58,000 people live in the Netherlands without an official right to residence.
Taking tough measures to rein in migration was a policy cornerstone for the four-party coalition led by the Party for Freedom of anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders. The coalition collapsed last month after just 11 months in office, and migration is expected to be a key issue ahead of the snap election Oct. 29.
Wilders pulled the plug on the coalition saying it was taking too long to enact moves to rein in migration. His coalition partners rejected the criticism, saying they all backed the crackdown. His party currently holds a narrow lead in opinion polls over a center-left two-party bloc that recently agreed to a formal merger.
The opposition Christian Democrats withdrew their support for the legislation put to the vote Thursday over a late amendment that would criminalize people living in the Netherlands without a valid visa or asylum ruling — and would also criminalize people and organizations that help such undocumented migrants. The amendment was introduced by a member of Wilders’ party and passed narrowly because a small number of opposition lawmakers were not present for the vote.
The vote took place in the final session of parliament before lawmakers broke for the summer. The upper house will consider the legislation after it returns from the recess. If Christian Democrats in the upper chamber reject it, the legislation will be returned to the lower house.
A bill setting new limits on asylum-seekers passes in the Dutch parliament
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A bill setting new limits on asylum-seekers passes in the Dutch parliament
- The Dutch Red Cross has estimated 23,000 to 58,000 people live in the Netherlands without an official right to residence
Trump sues the BBC for defamation over editing of January 6 speech, seeks up to $10 billion in damages
- A BBC spokesperson told Reuters earlier on Monday that it had “no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point
- The BBC is funded through a mandatory license fee on all TV viewers, which UK lawyers say could make any payout to Trump politically fraught
WASHING: President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair. Trump accused Britain’s publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021 speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said “fight like hell.” It omitted a section in which he called for peaceful protest.
Trump’s lawsuit alleges the BBC defamed him and violated a Florida law that bars deceptive and unfair trade practices. He is seeking $5 billion in damages for each of the lawsuit’s two counts. The BBC has apologized to Trump, admitted an error of judgment and acknowledged that the edit gave the mistaken impression that he had made a direct call for violent action. But it has said there is no legal basis to sue.
Trump, in his lawsuit filed Monday in Miami federal court, said the BBC despite its apology “has made no showing of actual remorse for its wrongdoing nor meaningful institutional changes to prevent future journalistic abuses.”
The BBC is funded through a mandatory license fee on all TV viewers, which UK lawyers say could make any payout to Trump politically fraught.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team said in a statement the BBC “has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda.”
A BBC spokesperson told Reuters earlier on Monday that it had “no further contact from President Trump’s lawyers at this point. Our position remains the same.” The broadcaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the lawsuit was filed.
CRISIS LED TO RESIGNATIONS
Facing one of the biggest crises in its 103-year history, the BBC has said it has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms.
The dispute over the clip, featured on the BBC’s “Panorama” documentary show shortly before the 2024 presidential election, sparked a public relations crisis for the broadcaster, leading to the resignations of its two most senior officials.
Trump’s lawyers say the BBC caused him overwhelming reputational and financial harm.
The documentary drew scrutiny after the leak of a BBC memo by an external standards adviser that raised concerns about how it was edited, part of a wider investigation of political bias at the publicly funded broadcaster.
The documentary was not broadcast in the United States.
Trump may have sued in the US because defamation claims in Britain must be brought within a year of publication, a window that has closed for the “Panorama” episode.
To overcome the US Constitution’s legal protections for free speech and the press, Trump will need to prove not only that the edit was false and defamatory but also that the BBC knowingly misled viewers or acted recklessly.
The broadcaster could argue that the documentary was substantially true and its editing decisions did not create a false impression, legal experts said. It could also claim the program did not damage Trump’s reputation.
Other media have settled with Trump, including CBS and ABC when Trump sued them following his comeback win in the November 2024 election.
Trump has filed lawsuits against the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa, all three of which have denied wrongdoing. The attack on the US Capitol in January 2021 was aimed at blocking Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win over Trump in the 2020 US election.
