ABSTRACT
In recent years, the Netherlands drew international attention by being the first country to require that family unification migrants pass a language and integration test in their countries of origin before being admitted into the Netherlands. 1 Member of Parliament Rita Verdonk (VVD), who in 2006–2007 would become the Dutch Minister for Immigration and Integration Affairs, in 2005 defended these policies in parliament by linking threats to the stability of Dutch society with assumed differences between Dutch norms regarding family relations and sexuality and those of ‘non-Western’ migrants:
[F]ailed integration can lead to marginalisation and segregation as a result of which people can turn their back on society and fall back on antiquated norms and values, making them susceptible to the influence of a small group inclined to extremism and terrorism … Ongoing radicalisation implies a real risk that non-integrated migrants will take an anti-Western stance and will assail fundamental values and norms generally accepted in Western society such as equality of men and women, non-discrimination of homosexuals and freedom of expression. 2
