A few figures

From October 2008 until 28 March 2014, 633 families and 1224 accompanied minors were accommodated in the return houses of Zulte, Tubize, Sint-Gillis-Waas, Tielt and Beauvechain.

617 of those families have since left the return houses:

  • 269 families were removed;
  • 166 families escaped;
  • 181 families were released;
  • 1 family was temporarily transferred to the Caricole closed centre.

Those 617 families spent on average 24,1 days in the return houses. This average, however, gives a misleading image of the actual time that many of those families are spending in such structures – 18 families were released after reaching the maximum term of detention, i.e. 4 months-, because a great number only spends one or a few days in the return house.

Break up of the families according to the procedure:

  • 259 families with “illegal status”;
  • 96 families “Dublin”;
  • 276 families “Border (asylum seekers at the border or families who were denied entry)”:
  • 2 families “spending the night”.

The 633 families were split up between the return houses as follows:

  • Zulte : 198 families
  • Tubize : 208 families
  • Sint-Gillis-Waas : 148 families
  • Tielt : 55 families
  • Beauvechain : 24 families