The suspected Brussels terrorist lived illegally in Belgium, and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) has emphasized after the terrorist act that Sweden must keep track of who is here.
“If they are not here legally, they should leave the country,” he said at a recent press conference.
— People who are dangerous to others, who are not Swedish citizens, must leave Sweden immediately.
Two Swedish men fell victim to the terrorist attack in Brussels on Monday evening. Picture from the memorial site.
Sweden currently has over 26,000 people with a legally binding deportation order who have not left the country.
Around 15,000 of them are in the Migration Agency’s system, and just over 11,000 have been handed over to the police when it is judged that coercion must be used. Of these 11,000, 8,000 have “gone underground” and are wanted.
A new law
The government has spoken of a “paradigm shift” in migration policy. It includes that the shadow society must be combated and that anyone who has received a deportation order must leave Sweden.
So far, however, only one new law has entered into force that affects that particular work.
In August, the police received increased powers to carry out internal controls on foreigners, through, among other things, body searches and to search for ID documents, in areas close to the border.
The police have also been tasked with increasing the number of internal controls on foreigners. So far this year, over 14,000 people have been checked, which is an increase compared to last year – but still far from the peak figure from 2012 when over 42,000 checks were carried out.
Barely every tenth check leads to a person being sent out, or taken into custody.
Storage locations are delayed
The Tidö parties have also announced that the storage places will increase from today’s 567 places to 1,000, unclear when. The 100 new places that are planned in a first step are expected to be ready only after the summer of 2025, according to the Swedish Migration Agency. For the rest, there are neither assignments nor dates.
In order to get a better overview of those staying in Sweden, the government documents also promised “a large-scale national census”. It ended with the Swedish Tax Agency next year increasing its checks on where people are registered.
A ban on municipalities paying out support to people who are illegally in Sweden, as stipulated in the Tidö Agreement, has not yet been introduced either. An investigation should be completed by the end of next year.
The government has appointed a number of investigations that will come up with proposals for, among other things, mandatory asylum centers, more effective internal controls on foreigners and a reporting obligation for public employees who come into contact with people who are staying illegally in Sweden.
They must be reported during the next year and it will probably take until 2025 before new laws can be in place.
Refuses to receive
A major problem for the police, who carry out forced deportations, is that many countries refuse to accept their citizens. This applies to, among others, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
Whether the Tidö parties’ method of more diplomacy and conditional aid has yet yielded any results is unclear. In September, a group deportation of around 20 people to Iraq was reported. Sweden is said to have had “dialogue on several levels” which improved cooperation with the country.
However, the deportation was not unique – Iraqis have also been forcibly deported by the police in the past. In 2020, it involved more than 100 people, according to the police.
According to Säpo, Sweden also has “hundreds” of foreign citizens who have been classified as a security threat but who cannot be deported. Säpo has warned that the number accumulates year after year – and has previously wanted the government to work diplomatically so that the people can be deported from Sweden.
not started
One year after taking office, the government has begun investigations into a total of about 20 points in the area of migration in the Tidö Agreement.
But there are also a number of difficult points where investigations have not yet been added. This applies, for example, to deportations due to lack of walking, increased return migration and more immigrants to be deported due to crime.