The hairdresser Mouslem Fahker Aboud, also called Mickey, from Vilhelmina, has lived in Sweden for 16 years. He has had his asylum applications rejected and has been in the Swedish Migration Agency’s custody for months waiting for a deportation order.
At the beginning of February, he was released – although the decision to deport him remains. Something that several other local media reported on.
Touched by the hometown support
Now he is back in his home in Vilhelmina and touched by the support of the locals. Many have refrained from cutting their hair in protest.
– They have been waiting for me for almost five months. Soon I will meet them and hug them a lot, says Mickey.
The future is uncertain for Mickey
What the future will be like for Mickey is uncertain. Even so, he is happy to be reunited with the hometown, the villa and the customers.
– This is my home and I love all of Vilhelmina, he says.
The Swedish Migration Agency cannot comment on individual cases, but says that detention is used in cases where there is a risk that people choose to stay away in connection with a deportation.
– The legislation allows that a person can be detained for up to a year, but if we judge that we cannot enforce it in the near future, then the person can be released from detention. A new decision on detention can also be made later, says the Swedish Migration Agency’s press manager Jesper Tengroth.
Bureaucracy can drag on
How common is it to receive a deportation notice if you have been in the country for almost 20 years?
– Nobody gets their first deportation notice after 20 years. When it drags on, it is often the case that the individual has stayed away. There are some countries that say they don’t accept citizens if they don’t want to return voluntarily, Iraq has been such an example in the past. Then it can drag on, says Jesper Tengroth.