This morning the city of Rotterdam announced its new hard-line policies to combat immigration and urban decline. The unemployed, the disabled, pensioners, other claimants and the low-paid will be banned from moving into the city. The proposal does not affect existing residents, so long as they stay at their current address. If they have to move, for instance for urban renewal, then they can not be rehoused in Rotterdam.

From 2004 no-one can move into Rotterdam unless they have a legal job, and earn more than 20% above the national minimum. This excludes almost all claimants - unemployed obviously, but also disability allowances and state pensions. All workfare jobs are also excluded, they never pay more than 20% above minimum. Trainees, temp agency workers, low-skill industrial workers will also be excluded, they usually earn just the minimum. It is not clear if there will be exceptions for students. Many service sector workers, in health care and retail employment for instance, also earn less than 20% above minimum. Obviously all illegal workers are excluded.

The proposals have been greeted with enthusiasm at national level. A majority in parliament wants to introduce them in other cities. Total bans on claimants are new in Europe, although some German cities operate restrictive policies. Unfortunately these policies will probably be copied in other countries, because they appear to offer an instant solution to urban problems. No more drug addicts, no more street crime, no more decaying estates, no more problem children at school, just send them all away to somewhere else.

Of course, this has everything to do with the fact, that most claimants and low-paid workers in Rotterdam are immigrants. Initially the city wanted to simply ban foreigners, but that might be unconstitutional. Banning people on income grounds is legal, even if it is deliberately targeted at ethnic groups.

The policy is a delayed effect of the enormous success of the assassinated racist Pim Fortuyn. Rotterdam is declining economically, it is losing white population, and it will eventually have a Muslim majority. The city is run by a coalition of Pim Fortuyn's local party (Liveable Rotterdam) plus the Christian Democrats and the market-liberal VVD.

Some new policies are directed specifically at immigrants. In the first three years, they will lose all entitlement to benefits, but will still have to pay insurance contributions. They will also not be allowed to rent housing during this time. (To implement this policy Rotterdam needs enabling legislation).

If private landlords rent housing to illegal immigrants, the housing will be confiscated without compensation. The tenants will be evicted and sent to asylum-seekers centres - assuming they are not deported anyway. Rotterdam already has a special prison at the airport for illegal immigrants, but it is run by the national Immigration Service, not by the city.

There are other proposals in the pipeline. Right-wing parties are becoming increasingly clever at devising anti-immigrant policies, which allow them to legally discriminate. One suggestion is to limit the number of people in a dwelling who can get benefit. This affects large families or several people sharing a small flat, in both cases typically immigrants.

In addition, the city of Rotterdam wants power to veto immigrant marriages with people from the home country. Typically, this would involve the demand to learn fluent Dutch in Morocco or Somalia, before a visa is issued. Or immigrants might have to pay in advance (more than 5000 euro) for a citizenship course. Both of these tactics are under consideration at national level.