Dilemma's binnen de poorten. De Koppelingswet en uitsluiting van illegale migranten van publieke voorzieningen

Samenvatting

Internal dilemmas: The ‘Linking Act’ and exclusion of illegal immigrants from public services in practice. Like other European countries, the Netherlands is witnessing an increasing ‘irregularisation’ of immigration. Concerns about lack of control have stimulated new legislation, particularly during the last decade. The most comprehensive new law, the so-called Koppelingswet or ‘Linking Act’ was enacted in 1998. The aim of this new law is to bar undocumented immigrants from public services such as social benefits, health care, education and public housing. On the basis of empirical research in the four largest Dutch cities, this article examines the mixed reactions of gatekeepers of the welfare state to the presence of illegal immigrants during their day-to-day work. On the one hand, exclusion is taking place in some sectors and procedures have been intensified. On the other hand, professionals are still confronted with illegal immigrants, which saddles them with concrete dilemmas. As a resuIt, the effects of the law have been softened or counterbalanced by (informal) practices as well as by local arrangements or ‘bypasses’. In this respect, the ‘discouragement policy’, which is now pursued forover ten years has clearly enlarged the distance between national and local level policies. Subsequently it is maintained that the gap that inevitably exists between formal policy goals and street-level practise, varies over sectors. Discretionary freedom is relatively large in sectors with a high level of professionalisation, such as health care and education.