- Federal Councilor Beat Jans visited the federal asylum center in Ticino.
- There he exchanged ideas with representatives of the canton of Ticino and the municipalities of Chiasso, Novazzano and Balerna about measures to relieve the burden on the asylum system.
- The focus is on tougher action against criminal asylum seekers, fewer hopeless asylum applications with an expansion of 24-hour procedures and a stop to applications on weekends.
Jans announced the reforms in the asylum sector to the media after visiting the federal asylum center in Chiasso TI. He wants to defuse the tense situation in the asylum centers with various measures. This will first be decided by the Federal Council as a whole, then by Parliament.
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Beat Jans wants to reduce the number of hopeless asylum applications.
Keystone/Laurent Giullieron
Last November, Jans’ predecessor in the Justice Department, Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, promised measures to improve the asylum center after Chiasso made the headlines because of criminal asylum seekers. Baume-Schneider, who has since moved to the Federal Department of the Interior (EDI), remained vague in her statements during her visit to Ticino. You must first analyze the situation carefully.
Prevent abusive asylum applications
After almost two months in office, Jans announced concrete measures. For example, he suggests extending the 24-hour procedures, which have been successfully tested in the Federal Asylum Center in Zurich in recent months, to all federal asylum centers with a procedural function by the end of April 2024.
In order to be able to complete the applications as quickly as possible without any prospect of asylum, all essential procedural steps are carried out within this very short period of time. Asylum seekers from countries of origin with very little prospect of asylum recognition should also have to justify their asylum application in writing in advance.
In order to counteract the misuse of the asylum structures, asylum applications should only be submitted during the week in the future. According to Jans, this is intended to prevent asylum seekers from having to be accommodated in federal asylum centers over the weekend and then leaving before their fingerprints can be taken on Monday and the asylum procedure can be formally opened.
According to Jans, vulnerable asylum seekers such as women traveling alone, families, unaccompanied minors and sick or elderly people should continue to be admitted on weekends. In addition, applicants should be prevented from being homeless on weekends.