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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/iceland/iceland-tightens-asylum-policy-after-mass-migration-wave/

Iceland

Iceland tightens asylum policy after mass migration wave

Population replacement in the West

Published 25 March 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Iceland has recently become a popular destination for migrants.
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Following a parliamentary vote, it is clear that Icelandic lawmakers will introduce much stricter asylum laws than before. 38 MEPs voted to remove social and economic benefits for rejected asylum seekers – while only 15 opposed this.

Recently, Iceland has become a popular destination for third world migrants. In 2022, 2,500 asylum applications were received in the island nation, which has a total population of just under 400,000.

The change supported by the three governing parties means that asylum seekers will not be eligible for health and social security benefits if they are not deemed to have valid reasons for asylum, which could also make the country less attractive to migrants.

Authorities in Iceland have reported many cases of asylum abuse and complained that, due to Iceland’s membership in the Schengen zone, migrants can enter the island without having to pass through border controls.

– For several years, there have been repeated attempts to amend the migration law. The situation has changed a lot during this time, and today we are facing an unprecedented problem in receiving all those who come to us as refugees and seek protection. Therefore, in my opinion, it is quite clear that we need to consider further measures to approximate the rules of our neighboring countries, so that we do not end up with numbers that far exceed those of those countries, commented Minister of Justice Jón Gunnarsson.

In the past, Icelandic authorities have also unveiled plans to deport hundreds of asylum seekers back to the countries where they first applied for asylum – a proposal that prompted the pro-mass migration organization to stage protests in the country, claiming that migrants who are deported may face “inhumane” conditions and substandard living conditions.

The move to withdraw benefits for migrants whose applications have been rejected has also been criticized by the opposition, who say that homelessness and poverty are likely to increase.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/sweden-despite-paradigm-shift-mass-immigration-to-continue-in-2024/

Sweden

Sweden: Despite “paradigm shift” – mass immigration to continue in 2024

Population replacement in the West

Published 11 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Mass immigration to Sweden seems to be continuing - regardless of whether the Moderates or Social Democrats are in power.
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Ulf Kristersson’s government has promised that the days of almost limitless mass immigration are over and that it intends to pursue a much more restrictive migration policy.

In reality, however, almost 100,000 residence permits were granted last year, which is the same level as in many of the years when the Social Democrats and other left-wing parties ruled the country.

While there has been a slight decrease – from 102,000 residence permits in 2023 to 94,000 last year – mass immigration remains at historically very high levels and no immigration freeze, or even a radical reduction, has demonstrably materialized.

According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the decrease that has nevertheless occurred is due to several explanatory models – but mainly to the fact that Sweden has become less attractive to migrants and that fewer applications for asylum and work permits were received in 2024.

“Of the permits granted, about 27,000 were labor market cases and just over 24,000 were family ties. Around 15,500 first-time applications for protection were granted, down from just under 17,000 in 2023. Of these, around 11,000 were for people from Ukraine who were granted a residence permit under the Mass Refugee Directive and just over 900 were quota refugees selected through the UNHCR’s resettlement program”, the press release states.

“The largest countries of origin in terms of all grounds for residence were India and Ukraine, both with around 12,000 permits. They were followed by China, Pakistan and Thailand. Countries had different numbers of applicants in different categories; Ukraine, for example, had many who were granted protection (mass displacement), India had applicants in both work permits, studies and affiliation, while China had many who were granted residence permits for studies”, it explains.

65,000 citizenships were granted

It is noteworthy that the number of citizenships granted is also at about the same levels as before. Last year, 65,591 citizenships were granted – compared to 68,168 the year before.

There has also been a cautious increase in voluntary return, but there are still relatively few migrants leaving Sweden of their own free will – 8,200 last year and 7,500 in 2023.

It has also been noted that both the Swedish government and several of the major establishment media have chosen to highlight last year’s migration figures in a directly misleading or misleading way, painting a picture that there has been a sharp overall decrease in immigration to Sweden. In reality, last year’s figures are certainly lower than the worst years, but still higher than, for example, 2020 and higher than all years between 1980 and 2009.

The fact that the government continues to hand out almost 100,000 residence permits annually has also led to concern in many quarters and accusations that the Moderates’ new anti-immigration profile is mostly about attracting voters, and that there are no serious ambitions at all to put an end to the policy of population exchange that has been pursued in recent decades.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Residence permits granted (1980-2024)

1980: 12 669

1981: 12 186

1982: 13 072

1983: 10 293

1984: 13 624

1985: 16 108

1986: 22 868

1987: 28 427

1988: 33 076

1989: 44 516

1990: 37 120

1991: 41 948

1992: 34 602

1993: 58 769

1994: 78 860

1995: 32 296

1996: 31 390

1997: 36 132

1998: 39 070

1999: 37 033

2000: 60 490

2001: 56 872

2002: 54 396

2003: 56 787

2004: 58 811

2005: 62 463

2006: 86 436

2007: 86 095

2008: 90 021

2009: 102 820

2010: 96 388

2011: 97 905

2012: 116 444

2013: 121 718

2014: 115 703

2015: 115 104

2016: 151 031

2017: 135 686

2018: 133 025

2019: 117 913

2020: 89 009

2021: 95 163

2022: 142 179 (47.566 Ukrainians)

2023: 102 139 (11.000 Ukrainians)

2024: 93 895 (11.000 Ukrainians)

Source: Swedish Migration Agency

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/sweden-must-deport-many-more-sd-youth-leader/

Sweden

Sweden must deport many more – SD youth leader

Population replacement in the West

Published 2 December 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Denice Westerberg, leader of the Young Swedes, the youth wing of the Sweden Democrats, is regarded as a rising star within the party.
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Denice Westerberg, the newly appointed leader of Young Swedes, the youth wing of the Sweden Democrats, is clear that more migrants must be deported – even if they have already been granted Swedish citizenship.

She also has high expectations for the 2026 elections and believes that Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson could become Sweden’s next prime minister.

In October, then Young Swedes leader, Emil Eneblad, resigned and was replaced by Denice Westerberg – best known as the host of the YouTube channel Riks.

Internally, she is now seen as a rising star, and when an SD conference was held in Norrköping this weekend, she was one of the main speakers.

– It is also our role as a youth organization to push opinions, to push the debate, to push our own party and the Tidö parties and to make sure that things happen. So I see no problem with a harsher tone in the debates. I think we need to discuss politics more, especially among young people, she says in an interview with the tabloid Aftonbladet.

Nearly ten years ago, the Sweden Democrats disbanded their former youth league (Sverigedemokratisk Ungdom – SDU) after several heated conflicts and disagreements over various issues, and the breakaway members formed Alternative for Sweden (AfS) instead. The new youth organization is considered to be much more “loyal” to the parent party and essentially follows its line on various issues.

“Must start getting people out”

Whereas AfS regards Swedes as an ethnic group, and believes that a large number of non-European migrants must be deported regardless of whether they have adapted to Swedish society or not, SD and its youth alliance instead believe that Swedishness is “open” or cultural and that migrants who “behave” can also be absorbed into the Swedish community regardless of their origin.

– We have a very good relationship with the party and we can influence the party more than I think many other youth associations can do with their parties, Westerberg says.

One issue that she considers particularly important is that more migrants should be persuaded to leave Sweden – either voluntarily or through coercive means, and she emphasizes that repatriation must take place on a large scale.

– We are sending out the signals that you either assimilate to Sweden or don’t live in Sweden. We have to stop more people coming to Sweden, but we also have to start getting people out. Voluntary repatriation is a good part of this, but we must also start to implement deportations and agreements with countries. That we can start deporting people who previously could not be deported.

– All steps towards getting more people to return and more people to be deported are steps in the right direction, she clarifies.

Translation of the above tweet:
Why are people who claim to have fled war and oppression in the Middle East and Africa allowed to keep their Swedish passports when they go back on vacation without a care in the world?

“Handed out an awful lot of citizenships”

For migrants who do not behave, the youth chairman wants to “cut the passport” and believes that this should be standard, partly if they have not managed to adapt to Swedish society, but also if it turns out that they did not really have reasons for protection to begin with.

– One of the reasons may be that they do not know the language. Or if you come to Sweden and have fled here and then a few years later vacation in your home country. Then I think you have used up your chances of being in Sweden. Then you might as well move back there completely.

Migrants who have been granted Swedish citizenship should also be deported on a large scale – because, according to Westerberg, citizenship has simply been granted far too freely and without any major requirements or controls.

– Yes, because we have handed out so many citizenships to people without even looking twice at it. If someone has Swedish citizenship but then frequently travels back to their home country and vacations, then we should look at whether this person should really have Swedish citizenship or whether we have given it out on the wrong grounds?

Believes in Åkesson as prime minister

She is not entirely satisfied with the role of the Sweden Democrats in the Tidö agreement (a political cooperation pact between four right-wing parties in Sweden) either, and especially not with the limited influence they have had within it. Ahead of the election in two years’ time, she hopes that the SD will be the largest party in a government constellation and that Jimmie Åkesson will then also become Swedish prime minister.

– Of course Jimmie Åkesson should be prime minister… In my world, there is not another Tidö agreement, she explains.

Several other SD representatives have also announced that they do not see it as an option to support the Moderates after the next election, and that they expect to be in the government in 2026 – or in opposition to it. Currently, the SD has around 40% of voter support among the Tidö parties, but has still only managed to get very limited parts of its policies through, which has also frustrated voters and supporters.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/sweden-democrats-call-for-complete-halt-to-citizenship-applications/

Sweden

Sweden Democrats call for complete halt to citizenship applications

Population replacement in the West

Published 23 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Being granted Swedish citizenship should be an earned privilege, according to Jimmie Åkesson.
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The Christian Democrats want fewer citizenships to be granted – but Jimmie Åkesson believes it is necessary to go further than that and wants the Swedish Migration Agency to stop processing citizenship cases altogether.

“Swedish citizenship should not be something that is handed out to just anyone, but should be reserved for people with a genuine love for our country”, writes the SD leader.

In an opinion piece in the tabloid Aftonbladet, Åkesson notes that tens of thousands of immigrants are granted Swedish citizenship every year – without any major demands being made on them.

“In fact, in the last 10 years alone, Sweden has granted more than 660,000 Swedish citizenships, preferably to individuals from deeply dysfunctional countries where values are often completely different from those that characterize our Swedish culture”, he notes.

“This is what the naive migration and integration policies of previous governments have looked like, which we unfortunately still have to bear the consequences of. This is of course completely crazy policy. Policy that we are very keen to clean up and change fundamentally”, continues the SD leader.

“Clearly unsuitable individuals”

Citizenship continues to be handed out lightly even under the current center-right government – over 50,000 so far in 2024 and similar numbers are expected next year.

“As if these numbers weren’t enough, over the years we’ve been treated to completely senseless stories of individuals who have been granted citizenship when they clearly shouldn’t be welcome in Sweden at all”, Åkesson writes, pointing to how foreign rapists and murderers have nevertheless been allowed to become Swedish citizens for some unfathomable reason.

The center-right government and the Swedish Social Democrats have indeed set up an investigation, the purpose of which is to tighten the requirements for being granted Swedish citizenship, but the leader of the Sweden Democrats points out that it will take a long time before this bears fruit.

“Unfortunately, it takes time to clean up the policy, which means that we must seriously consider alternative solutions while the investigation continues. We have long pushed for a moratorium on citizenship in our negotiations with the government. The meaning is simple – stop all new citizenship grants until the new, tighter, framework is in place”.

“Why should Sweden even consider granting Swedish citizenship to clearly unsuitable individuals with values that are directly incompatible with our own?” he asks.

Citizenship – a privilege

Although Åkesson welcomes Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch’s announcement to issue fewer Swedish citizenships, he says this is not enough.

“However, we maintain that we should be able to go further than just calling for a slower pace. If the Migration Agency were instead to pause the processing of citizenship cases altogether, we could prevent the issuance of tens of thousands of new citizenships”.

“Swedish citizenship should not be something that is handed out to just anyone, but should be reserved for people with a genuine love for our country, and who have honest ambitions to make Sweden a better country than it was yesterday. So let’s make it so”, he concluded.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/after-decades-of-mass-immigration-social-democrats-want-strict-swedish-migration-policy/

Sweden

After decades of mass immigration: Social Democrats want “strict Swedish migration policy”

Population replacement in the West

Published 20 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
According to Magdalena Andersson, it is the center-right and not her own party that has promoted free immigration.
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Like the centre-right parties, the Social Democrats have long advocated an almost limitless mass immigration policy to Sweden, with millions of people from third world countries being granted Swedish residence permits or citizenship.

However, they now state that they have completely changed their minds on the issue and instead claim to want a “strict Swedish migration policy” with stricter requirements for staying in Sweden.

Under both the Conservatives and the Social Democrats, Sweden has for decades been among the European countries that have taken in the most non-European migrants – leading not only to widespread insecurity, poverty, polarisation and huge social costs – but also to the spread of organised crime across the country and the fact that ethnic Swedes are, or soon will be, in a minority in many Swedish municipalities.

Although leading representatives in both the Moderate and Social Democratic parties are in many cases exactly the same people who previously frantically wanted to fight the Sweden Democrats and other anti-immigration movements, and worked for almost completely free immigration to Sweden, both parties state that they have now completely turned around on the migration issue, and now say they want a very restrictive immigration policy instead.

During the present so-called “Tidö” government, the Moderates have advocated tougher measures, deportation of criminals and tougher requirements for citizenship – but in reality, mass immigration has continued at roughly the same levels as before.

“Central force for social development”

The Social Democrats’ proposal for a new party programme has a similar tone, and the focus is said to be on immigration and combating the widespread crime in society.

– We will be the central and strongest force for social development in Sweden, says Social Democratic party leader Magdalena Andersson.

“It has been necessary to respond to serious crime with a shift in criminal policy, where a large number of penalties have been increased”, the programme states.

In 2013, the Social Democrats declared that they wanted “generous and regulated immigration” – a statement that has been completely cancelled and instead they now say they advocate “a strict Swedish migration policy” with “greater requirements for everyone in Sweden to learn Swedish”.

At the same time, they want migrants granted residence permits in Sweden to be distributed evenly across the country, with a special focus on “efforts to combat racism and discrimination”.

Translation:

The new migration policy of the Social Democrats summarised:

  • The population replacement should continue, but at a level where “integration works”.
  • The new arrivals will be scattered everywhere. All Swedes will be forcibly integrated.
  • “Racism” and “discrimination” are to be countered, i.e. quotas are to be increased.

“Free immigration is not left-wing”

The draft will now be submitted for consultation and the new party programme will not be approved until the party congress in May next year.

Magdalena Andersson claimed last year that the reason the Social Democrats previously favoured mass immigration was that they were “caught up” in the “social climate” – and she argued that it was the conservatives, not the Social Democrats, who had pushed Sweden’s generous migration policy the hardest.

– Free immigration is not left-wing. Those who have pushed the most free immigration policy in Sweden are the right. It is Ulf Kristersson and Gunnar Strömmer who have done that, she said at the time, referring to the fact that both Sweden’s prime minister and justice minister had previously advocated completely free immigration to Sweden.

On forums and social media, however, many argue that the Social Democrats’ credibility on the migration issue is very low – and that it is unlikely that a party that, despite warnings, has been a driving force in turning Sweden into what it is today is also capable of solving the problems that have arisen and reversing the trend.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com