The opening of the Dutch borders. Legal and illegal migration to the Netherlands 19452005
The opening of the Dutch borders. Legal and illegal migration to the Netherlands 19452005

Summary/Abstract: Abstract: This article analyses the rise of migration to the Netherlands after the Second World War. It is argued that, unlike during the pre war years, it became increasingly difficult for the Dutch government to close its borders to a growing number of migrants. Initially the mean causes of migration to the Netherlands were the dismantling of the former Dutch colonial migration and labour market problems in the sixties. At first this was legal migration, but in the seventies and eighties, the line between legal and illegal migration, became more and more blurred. Migration causes migration and it became difficult for the Dutch government to stop the growing flow of migrants. Things became even more difficult in the nineties when large numbers of asylum seekers and economic refugees, tried, often successfully, to enter the Netherlands. The result was a growing anxiety among politicians and among the Dutch public, resulting in several attempts to change the law in such a way that illegal migration would become impossible, or at least much less attractive. Though partially successful, the Dutch government was never able to really stop the flow of migrants. Nowadays the problem of illegal migration has become intertwined with fears of radical Islam and terrorism. It also has become an important element of EU policy. It has led to a steep rise in the expenses paid to protect the EU borders. It has made illegal migration more difficult and dangerous, but, as is the case at the American-Mexican border, human trafficking and smuggling has not stopped.

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