The three “child refugees” were given free housing that normally costs on average 300 Swiss francs or 258 euros, per day per person, in the summer of 2016, but the caregivers soon faced problems.
When the three young men were given warm clothes for the approaching winter, they became angry: “They were disappointed and told us they would rather go shopping at H&M or Dolce & Gabbana,” one explained.
The caregivers later found out that the “child refugees” were selling their donated clothes and stolen goods to other parties, to supplement their monthly pocket money of 137 euros.
One of the young men, called Ahmed, lodged a complaint against his supervisor, saying that he did not spend enough time with him. But according to a report, the reality was quite different and his complaint was dismissed.
According to the report, Ahmed had actually rejected integration classes as well as doing chores in the house and had refused to cooperate with the support staff. It stated that Ahmed had “very high demands” on his environment. For example, he demanded that “a care worker be available to him 24 hours a day, seven days a week”, someone who “fulfils all his wishes immediately.”
Another asylum seeker behaved in the same manner, the report noted. He would act as if he did not know the rules of the house, ignore agreements, provoke the other inhabitants with his behaviour and was very disrespectful to individual team members. According to the article in the Basler Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, the expectations of the men “were as high as those of guests in a five-star hotel”.
Two of the youngsters had also received a season pass for the swimming pool, a bicycle and other things, in order to enjoy leisure time. Sadly, their gifts resulted in various serious incidents, including several women being sexually harassed.
After crisis meetings, several warnings and deep disappointment expressed by the staff, the young migrants were relocated after less than a year. The team described the young men as “troublemakers with a high claim mentality and a low willingness to perform”.
The case of the young men is “unfortunately not an isolated case, but the rule,” says a person who looks after such “unaccompanied child refugees”. Only very few behave in a different way he said. “Out of ten underage refugees, seven are behaving according to this destructive pattern: that’s the reality.”