Recently, Dutch courts have been pushing back against problematic migration algorithms used in visa and asylum decisions.
One judge reprimanded the ministry of foreign affairs for failing to clearly state what role the algorithm played in rejecting a visa application, and another took the unusual step of independently investigating a similar case, requiring the government to explain the system’s role.
The algorithm in question is a familiar one. It is yet another example of a risk-profiling system used by the Dutch government that, at best, carries the high risk of discrimination. The child benefits scandal, SyRI, the border police, the student finance agency (DUO): the list just keeps growing. Indeed, reporting by the NRC found that applicants from Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt were disproportionately flagged for intensive checks. Amnesty International calls the system “simply racist”, arguing that nationality and group characteristics cannot be used to predict behaviour. The ministry’s own internal supervisory authority warned, already back in 2022, that the system can stigmatise groups and is deeply flawed.
This latest problematic system used by the government is making the headlines not even four months after a devastating report by the State Commission against Discrimination and Racism. This report, requested by the government itself, explicitly calls to halt all (risk)profiling systems for fraud – or crime detection, as it fundamentally carries a too high risk of discrimination.
All of this is happening in the context of growing xenophobia, fascism and a tightening of the EU’s punitive surveillance regime for migration. This summer the EU adopted what critics call the ‘Deportation Regulation’, a fiercely criticised new law that provides for ICE-style deportations and a deepening of the current racist and harmful surveillance regime.
To support the Dutch migration movement, you can consider donating to Migreat or other migrant justice organisations.
See: Rechters tikken overheid op de vingers over migratie-algoritmes at NOS.
Image from the original NOS article.