A man faces prison for searching migrants at the German border
German police arrested a man who organized random inspections at the border between the Dutch city of Groningen and Germany earlier this month for attempting to enforce the law on his own without official authority.
Yan Hozen, 54, a resident of Emmen, was arrested on Friday for his role in these "operations" in which several locals, wearing reflective vests, were stopping cars crossing the border at night in search of asylum seekers.
The Dutch military police (Marechaussee) confirmed that it is the only authority authorized to monitor the borders, stating: "Therefore, we take action; no one has the right to do this themselves."
For his part, Justice Minister "David van Wyl", who oversees part of the asylum file, expressed his understanding of the participants' anger, but emphasized the need for them to stop these actions.
Housen stated in an interview with NRC newspaper this month that these night patrols "unfortunately" did not find any asylum seekers or "people with dark skin or anything like that," as he put it.