Sweden Plans to Expel Up to 80000 Asylum-Seekers — EU Migrant Crisis

Sweden, once one of the most generous countries for refugees entering Europe, is now considering rejecting as many as half of the 163,000 people who applied for asylum in 2015 – and deporting many of those who are waiting in the country if their applications are rejected, according to The Guardian.

“In principle we speak of about two thirds, meaning approximately 65 per cent of the 32,000 [that arrived in 2015] will get a negative decision [on their asylum applications]”, said Paivi Nerg, the administrative director of the Interior Ministry. 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.

The Swedish government fears many people whose applications for asylum are rejected will go into hiding.

“It pains me that Sweden is no longer capable of receiving asylum seekers at the high level we do today”.

“If it stays at these levels we expect 45,000 applications in 2016 – still a very high number, but manageable”, Harju said.

“We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000”, he told Swedish media, adding that, as in Finland, the operation would require the use of specially chartered aircraft.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven promised more resources for police to deal with the increased workload because of the refugee situation.

Fifty-five percent of the 58,800 processed asylum cases in 2015 were accepted.

One of the main concerns is that European Union countries, from Sweden to Britain, have implemented measures limiting family reunification rights – which risks separating children from their parents after they survive perilous journeys.

Diederik Samson – leader of the Socialist PvdA party, a key partner in the government – told De Volkskrant newpaper that a core group of nations should be willing to accept a set number of refugees coming from Turkey, if the other migrants can be sent back. Sweden has begun talks to coordinate the deportations with officials from the countries of origin, including Afghanistan and Morocco.

Police organize the line of refugees on the stairway leading up from the trains arriving from Denmark at the Hyllie train station outside Malmo. He called them vague, hypothetical estimates based on last year’s numbers.

Almost a quarter of Switzerland’s population is foreign and immigration is a major political issue, especially as Europe grapples with its biggest migrant crisis since World War II.

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.

European Union statistics show most of those rejected come from the Balkans including Albania and Kosovo, some of Europe’s poorest countries.