A Dutch mayor has been accused of putting himself above the law for helping a family of Syrian refugees avoid deportation.

Jos Heijmans told a council meeting in Weert, Limburg, that he acted to prevent the family, consisting of a mother and her four children, being separated from her younger brother. Only the brother, who is 18, had permission to stay in the Netherlands.

After two failed attempts to keep the family in the Netherlands legally – first through the courts and then by writing to junior justice minister Klaas Dijkhoff – Heijmans helped to shelter the mother and her children, 1Limburg reported.

According to the NRC, the woman, her children and brother fled Syria while her husband was in prison. In Germany, the men were separated from the women and her brother made it clear he wanted to go the Netherlands.

The woman, who is 24, was registered as a refugee in Germany but all five ended up at the refugee centre in Weert. Under EU law, refugees are supposed to go through the asylum procedure in the first country they reach. It is not clear how the family made it to Germany.

The mayor said that separating the family would have serious consequences as the  brother had taken on the role of father. But the Dutch Society of Mayors (NGB) said Heijmans had put himself ‘above the law’ through his actions.

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Heijmans, from the centrist-Liberal D66 party, said he had started new legal proceedings to keep the family in the Netherlands.

‘They would have been put on a train to Germany on May 3,’ he told reporters later on Friday. ‘I am 100% behind my actions and I have visited them in hiding a couple of times. They are doing well.’

The local branch of the right-wing Liberal VVD has criticised Heijmans, saying his actions are not in the interests of the family, Weert and its residents. ‘We want the mayor to explain himself,’ a spokesman said.

Local party Weert Lokaal, which is the biggest party on the town council, said it understood the mayor’s actions. ‘From a human point of view, we can understand what he has done,’ party leader Leon Kusters said.