Finland joins Sweden to deport failed asylum seekers

Ygeman said he estimated about 60,000 to 80,000 of the 163,000 people who sought asylum in 2015 would be expelled and either leave voluntarily or be forcibly deported.

The tougher rules come after Germany, the European Union’s powerhouse economy, took in some 1.1 million migrants in 2015 – many of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria. By January 25, more than 45,000 migrants and refugees had arrived in Greece by sea, which presents a surprise when comparing records from January 2014, when just 1,472 people were received by the Greek Coast Guard. But given the large number of asylum-seekers to be expelled, Sweden would use specially chartered aircraft to take them out of the country, Ygeman said, Sky News reported.

Stockholm also fears that many asylum seekers presently in Sweden may go into hiding to avoid being deported.

The Minister said he had instructed police and Migrationsverket, the national immigration agency, to proceed gradually with the forced repatriation of the migrants. “And then we have a few people that are staying on that are impossible to remove because of identification purposes”, he said.

The government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who has seen his popularity among voters decline, has blamed neighbouring Denmark and others for failing to share the burden given the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing Europe.

Of the 58,800 asylum requests handled by the Swedish migration authorities a year ago, 55 per cent were accepted.

Sweden has now introduced border controls and identity checks to make it more hard for migrants to enter the country, a reversal of its earlier “open-door” policy. The children are judged to be at risk of traffickers and sex abusers. It reportedly is considering moving those refugees to Afghanistan and Morocco.

German Federal Police check vehicles entering from Austria. He called them vague, hypothetical estimates based on last year’s numbers.

The plan was being worked out in several European Union member states, including Germany, the leader of the ruling Social Democrats Diederik Samsom told the daily De Volkskrant.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said under the new program Britain will work with the United Nations refugee agency to identify “exceptional cases” in which unaccompanied children would benefit by receiving shelter in Britain. The EU is trying to agree a euros 3?billion (pounds 2.2?billion) deal with the Turkish government to hold more migrants in exchange for better visa access for Turkish citizens to Europe, but talks have stalled amid rows over funding and implementation. The announcement from Sweden is the latest example of a Europe struggling to cope with the one.one MILLION people that flooded in from war-torn countries previous year.

The Italian navy meanwhile said it had recovered six bodies from a sinking dinghy off Libya – and in Bulgaria, the frozen bodies of two men, believed to be asylum seekers, were found near the border with Serbia.