We just cannot cope with any more asylum-seekers

The mayor of Unteraegeri, Josef Rivary, has sent a letter to cantonal government member Manuela Weichelt-Picard, who, as head of the department of Inner-Cantonal Affairs, is responsible for matters pertaining to immigration, asking her as a matter of urgency to undertake measures to prevent any further asylum-seekers being allocated to the municipality as the council there are not prepared to accept any more. According to an allocation system within the canton, the municipality is expected to house 45 asylum-seekers but at present there are as many as 133 living there.
 
According to the regulations stipulated by the Swiss State, municipalities are expected to receive a number of asylum-seekers proportionate to the number of residents. However, this is not actually the case in the canton, with municipalities like Walchwil and Neuheim not taking their fair share, only accommodating a few or none at all. One problem, of course, is finding appropriate accommodation. For her part, Weichelt-Picard explained that the canton, which, as of May 31 was accommodating as many as 1,061 asylum-seekers, was already renting out properties for this purpose.
 
Furthermore, this problem is sure to get worse as the numbers of asylum-seekers is expected to increase, with around ten allocated to Zug each month.
 
It is clear that residents in Unteraegeri have noticed the additional number of asylum-seekers they are already housing. It just so happens that it is in this municipality where there is cheap and suitable accommodation of a type Swiss people would not accept, with landlords are duly benefiting accordingly. As the Department of Inner-Cantonal Affairs explained, some of these properties are due for demolition so they can only offer a short-term solution.
 
Ribary said he had already been in contact with these landlords but the council has no influence on whom they let their property to. In addition to criticising the cantonal government, he has repeatedly criticised the mayors of Neuheim and Walchwil, too, for their lack of solidarity over this matter.
 
What also annoys Ribary is that, as a result of the recently-opened State-run temporary asylum-seeker home in Menzingen, the Zug cantonal government has said it will not be sending any additional refugees there, yet, despite Unteraegeri housing far more than its fair share, there has been no such assurance there.
 
A major problem for Ribary is the cost of educating the refugees` children, who can neither speak nor write English nor German, meaning that extra lessons have had to be provided. In the 2014-2015 school year, Ribary said that Unteraegeri had had to spend CHF 97,000 on teaching German as a second language for 24 children. “We are just not prepared to accept any more of them,” he said.
 
The Department of Inner-Cantonal Affairs realises that this allocation system is not working properly and is looking to ensure this is put right through the introduction of new legislation.