Sweden to deport up to 80000 asylum-seekers

Anders Ygeman has announced that character aircraft will deport the migrants over several years, BBC reports.

Ygeman told newspaper Dagens Industri that since about 45 percent of asylum applications are now rejected, the country must get ready to send back tens of thousands of the 163,000 who sought shelter in Sweden previous year.

With a population of 9.8 million, the Scandinavian country accepted more than 160,000 asylum-seekers a year ago.

Of those facing expulsion, Mr Ygeman was quoted in Swedish media as saying: “We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000”.

The UN says another 46,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this year, with more than 170 killed making the unsafe crossing from Turkey.

The European Commission said Greece could face border controls with the rest of the EU’s passpor … In neighbouring Denmark, meanwhile, the government this week approved legislation to seize the valuables of refugees to help pay for resettlement costs.

Swedish officials on Tuesday called for greater security at overcrowded asylum centres a day after the fatal stabbing of an employee at a refugee centre for unaccompanied youths.

The 22-year-old victim was stabbed to death at a centre for youngsters aged between 14 and 17 near Gothenburg.

According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the number of violent cases in the nation’s asylum facilities more than doubled between 2014 and 2015, rising to 322 separate incidents.

National Police Commissioner Dan Eliasson echoed Fuxborg’s comments in an interview with Sweden’s TT News.