Sweden to crack down on migrant crime
· Toronto Sun
Sweden has a message for its migrants: live honestly, or leave.
The Swedish government said on Tuesday it plans to table legislation that requires migrants to keep an “honest living” or be deported. The conservatively-minded coalition government led by the Moderate Party that came to power in 2022 in that country pledged to toughen up on immigration amid rampant migrant crime and violence following years of an open-door migration policy. It is now trying to push through various reforms that reflect the policy U-turn ahead of elections in September.
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This new requirement would make it easier for migrants’ residence permits to be revoked and if passed, would go into effect in mid-July.
Follow the rules or go, Minister says
“Following laws and rules is a given, but it must also be a given that we do our best to live responsibly and not harm our country,” Sweden’s Migration Minister Johan Forssell said. “If, for example, you ignore paying your debts, if you don’t comply with decisions from Swedish authorities, if you cheat the benefits system, if you cheat your way to a Swedish residence permit… then you do not have the right to be here.”
Dodging taxes, ducking fines and extremist rhetoric could trigger revoked permits, the government said.
“Statements — that is, things a person says or expresses — should not in themselves be regarded as evidence of lack of honest living, but they may be an indication of, for example, links to violent extremism, which can then be a sign of deficient character,” said Ludvig Aspling, a migration policy spokesman for the Sweden Democrats, part of the coalition government.
“The Swedish Condition”
Sweden, a country of 10.6 million people, has long been viewed on the world stage as a European progressive utopia, with open-hearted, liberally minded people living in a stable economy and enjoying a high quality of life. In 2014, Swedes welcomed with open arms asylum seekers coming from war-ravaged areas of the Middle East.
Then the tidal wave began : The country registered more than 80,000 asylum seekers that year, with that number doubling to almost 163,000 by the end of the next and more thereafter. Sweden finally admitted it accepted more migrants than it could successfully integrate, adding it needed “respite” in a now famous press conference that saw Sweden’s then deputy prime minister break down in tears .
With the flood of migration came a surge in crime, with some of the highest rates of gangland killings in Europe and the lowest average age of teens arrested for murder. Some suburbs are increasingly classified as “especially vulnerable areas” (i.e. no-go zones) where conditions have so deteriorated police can’t effectively operate. The Bank of Sweden in 2024 warned that the shootings and bombings got so severe that it risked long-term economic growth.
Sweden’s Scandinavian neighbours have taken note of the developments, calling it “svenska tillståndet” (The Swedish Condition) — a term used in Denmark, Finland and Norway to describe increasing violence and unchecked immigration.