Illegal aliens like Helen can't hack it in the Netherlands
Thousands of illegal aliens lead clandestine lives in the Netherlands. Mayors fear an amendment to immigration law will hit the most vulnerable. By Sheila Kamerman Helen is eight months pregnant and lives in an apartment provided to her by the Rotterdam municipality. A great improvement from the street she used to sleep on. Helen (36) left her native Ethiopia more than 20 years ago and came to the Netherlands in 2000. She has been homeless and, more importantly, illegal. Meet Helen. She is one of the vulnerable illegal aliens, those who live at the bottom of the bottom. Anyone willing to look can see them scrape by on the margins of society in all major cities. Illegals who manage to make a living often seem invisble. Helen isn’t, because she can't. Next month, the Dutch parliament will vote on an amendment to the aliens act passed in 2000. A crucial element of that amendment is that people who stay in the Netherlands illegally for any length of time jeopardise their righ...