A large majority of parliament on Thursday called on the government to end its police quota for catching people living in the Netherlands without proper papers.

MPs from the ruling Labour party sided with the opposition to try to force an end to the quota, which is currently set at 4,000 a year.

The Labour party voted to abolish the quota at its last party congress and made it a key issue in its calls for a more humane policy to deal with illegal immigrants.

Targets

It is not clear if junior justice minister Fred Teeven will follow parliament’s wishes.

Earlier this month it emerged police have arrested 3,220 illegal and criminal immigrants in the year to June 2013, well below the target of 4,000.

‘One reason could be that there are fewer illegal immigrants,’ a police spokesman told the Telegraaf. ‘But we could also be looking in the wrong places.’