Federal Councillor Jans visits federal asylum center in Chiasso TI
Published: Tuesday, Feb 20th 2024, 04:50
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Federal Councillor Beat Jans visits the federal asylum center in Chiasso TI on Tuesday. Last November, Jans' predecessor in the Department of Justice, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, promised measures to improve the asylum center after Chiasso hit the headlines due to criminal asylum seekers.
Baume-Schneider, who has since moved to the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), remained vague in her statements to the media during her visit to Chiasso at the time. She said she would first have to carefully analyze the situation.
Meanwhile, cantonal and local authorities were already calling for a security concept for the local communities in the early summer of last year. In 2023, the police in Chiasso were called out almost 600 times for asylum seekers up to mid-November. However, according to the police, around half of the deployments involved simple identity checks.
Security patrols increased
According to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), security patrols have been increased both inside and outside the Chiasso and Pasture asylum centers since Baume-Schneider's visit.
In addition, the 24-hour fast-track procedure for asylum seekers from North African countries is to be extended to all federal asylum centers, the federal government recently announced. A corresponding pilot project has been running in Zurich since fall 2023. North African countries have a very low recognition rate for asylum applications.
390 asylum seekers in Ticino
A total of 390 asylum seekers are currently housed in the two asylum centers in Chiasso and Pasture in Ticino, as the SEM reported in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The additional temporary asylum accommodation at the train station in Chiasso, which was opened due to the Ukraine crisis, was also closed at the end of 2023.
This has reduced the current number of asylum seekers housed in southern Switzerland. The temporary facility had been criticized for some time. Originally, the federal government wanted to continue operating it until mid-2024. The city of Chiasso rejected this.
©Keystone/SDA
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