A Moroccan-born politician who told immigrants to either integrate or take the next plane home will become the first immigrant to lead one of the Netherlands’ major cities.

Ahmed Aboutaleb will take the reins of Rotterdam, a city of 585,000, on Jan. 1 when incumbent Ivo Opstelten retires. The government approved Aboutaleb’s appointment Friday after the municipality voted overwhelmingly for him.

Aboutaleb, 47, is deputy minister for social affairs in Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s government. Before taking that job in 2007, he made his reputation as an alderman in Amsterdam, where he pushed migrants to integrate or leave.

Racial tensions in the Netherlands soared after the 2004 murder by an Islamic extremist of filmmaker Theo van Gogh.

Aboutaleb was propelled to prominence when he went to a mosque in Amsterdam the day after Van Gogh’s murder and told the worshippers to either integrate or take the next plane home.

Rotterdam was the power base of populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered by an animal rights activist in 2002. But Ruud Lubbers, a former prime minister, said Aboutaleb can keep anti-immigrant sentiment under control in the city.

Nearly 36 percent of Rotterdam’s population is classed as “nonwestern immigrant” by the national statistics office. The immigrants are mainly families and descendants of Turkish and Moroccan guest workers.

“Going with the choice of Aboutaleb to become mayor is a sign of hope,” Lubbers told reporters earlier this week. “They trust him.”