Migration State Secretary disputes Belgium 'illegally detained' two people at border

Migration State Secretary disputes Belgium 'illegally detained' two people at border
Belgium's State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor. Credit: Belga / Jonas Roosen

Belgium’s State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole De Moor accused a court judge of “misinterpreting the law” when they ruled that two people had been illegally detained at the Belgian border.

A Congolese and a Moroccan national had been transferred to a detention centre after arriving in Belgium by plane. Both people had a visa but did not meet the required conditions of entry, according to the Immigration Office.

However, a Brussels court seemed to disagree with them, leading De Moor to ask "how can the border police do its job if it is not allowed to detain someone they believe does not meet the criteria to enter Belgium?"

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The Immigration Office is now set to appeal the court’s decision, a move which De Moor lauded as “absolutely necessary, otherwise effective border control of our external borders will become impossible." 

Despite the fact that two other judicial bodies saw no issue with the detentions, De Moor accused the court of having misread the law “which has become too unclear at this point," pushing De Moor to argue for a new migration code “to address such inconsistencies.”


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