If we were to only listen to the authorities, we would probably believe that the people of Logatec are absolutely delighted with the asylum centre in their town. However, the information we received from our reader from Logatec paints a different picture. Migrants arrive at the centre with a police escort, and the number of migrants processed at the centre last year almost exceeds the population of Logatec.
“This is how the tourist buses bring the migrants to us – to the Logatec Asylum Centre every Sunday. They have to pay for two policemen, a driver and an above-standard Mercedes tourist bus. A disaster and a disgrace,” wrote a reader of our web portal.
Last year, the Asylum Centre In Logatec processed around 10,000 migrants, not including refugees from Ukraine. This is an extremely high number, especially considering that Logatec is actually home to around 10,000 people. Since then,
many of these migrants have already left the Asylum Centre. Slovenia is a transit country, and many migrants soon continue on their journey to wealthier countries.
According to the website of the Municipality of Logatec in their weekly report, the Logatec Asylum Centre currently accommodates 240 intended applicants for international protection (persons who have not yet submitted an application), 47 applicants for international protection and 67 applicants for temporary protection and persons with granted temporary protection.
The porosity of our national borders is also causing problems with our neighbours. Tightened border controls with Austria have become a permanent feature, and the open-door policy is also chilling relations at the highest political level, as was evident from Prime Minister Golob’s recent visit to Vienna.
But the migration wave, which is being actively promoted by the open-door policy, is also causing problems at home. One of the problems is the apparent overload of local police officers. As our reader wrote, they are especially overworked in the evenings. “We don’t even have police on Saturday and Sunday nights because there are too few of them,” she wrote in an email.
Growing up next to the Asylum Centre
Even the youngest children are noticing that Slovenia has become the scene of a migration crisis. “We have two playgrounds for children, this is what our young people have to watch in the centre of Logatec,” wrote our reader.
The fact that many migrants face psychological problems was also admitted a few months ago by Lea Pignar, head of the Asylum Centre in Logatec. “Even if they come to us in a seemingly great condition, sooner or later, certain stories and traumas from the past come to the surface. When they are safe, they relax. Some people face problems, like addictions,” she told the newspaper Žurnal.
Nearly €300,000 for migrant transports
The problem, however, does not seem to bother the mayor of Logatec, our reader wrote. Nor does it bother the political top of the country. Meanwhile, the Slovenian taxpayer has spent 295 thousand euros on migrant transport in the first half of this year alone, reports the Slovenian Press Agency.
Ž. K.
