Mario Gattiker, head of the Federal Migration Office, said he was open to the idea from canton Ticino, which has been bearing the brunt of a wave of asylum seekers entering from neighbouring Italy.
The plan was launched by a prominent member of the Lega dei Ticinesi movement in the Ticino government.
In an interview with the SonntagsZeitung newspaper Gattiker said the proposed containers outside the town of Chiasso were not detention camps, but it made sense to separate criminals from the vast majority of law-abiding asylum seekers.
He said the government was also funding a special activity programme for immigrants.
Residents in the border region have regularly complained about incidents allegedly committed mainly by young asylum seekers from North Africa.
However, a senior representative of the Catholic Church has expressed concern about a perceived increase in xenophobia among the Swiss public over the past few years.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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Call for quicker turnaround of asylum seekers
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The rapid treatment of cases that don’t meet requirements could deter other refugees from travelling to Switzerland, the council’s secretary-general Beat Meiner said on Tuesday. Applicants would think twice about making the journey to Switzerland, which involves effort and money, if they knew they could be made to leave within two weeks, he said, adding…
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At 22,551, the number was the highest since 2002. The office attributed the sharp increase to the crisis in North Africa, and the opening of migration routes to Europe in March. The top three countries from which the asylum seekers came were Eritrea (3,356), Tunisia (2,574) and Nigeria (1,895). The office said Tunisian asylum seekers…
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She based her decision on an external report which concluded that previous changes set in motion by her predecessor, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, had made the process worse. Two days earlier the non-governmental Swiss Refugee Council said asylum seeker requests could be reduced if Switzerland handled applications more quickly, pointing out that the rapid treatment of cases that…
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This week some 400 concerned residents from Pully, an affluent small town on the edge of Lausanne, attended a heated information session regarding the imminent opening of an underground civil protection shelter to hold 50 asylum seekers. Despite agreement in principle between the federal and cantonal authorities, plans to create additional capacities for 2,000 asylum…
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His moving images of refugees turn our attention to a problem becoming ever more noticeable in Switzerland. Over several months, Pulawski documented the hardships of newly-arrived asylum seekers arriving at the Italian-speaking border town of Chiasso from Italy.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.