Sweden to deport up to 80000 asylum-seekers

The Swedish Migration Agency estimates that about 70,000 of the record 163,000 asylum seekers who crossed its borders last year will probably have their applications rejected, based on the 55pc approval ratio of applications in recent years.

“We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000”, the minister was quoted as saying by Swedish media, adding that the government had asked the police and authorities in charge of mi-grants to organise their expulsion.

Sweden received more than 160,000 asylum seekers a year ago, and about 55 of those are expected to be given asylum.

Sweden may deport up to 80,000 asylum-seekers over the next year.

Until late previous year Sweden operated an open-door immigration policy.

On average, about 45 percent of those applications get rejected, Harju said, which adds up to about 80,000, the figure that Interior Minister Anders Ygeman cited.

Germany took in almost 1.1 million migrants in 2015, the highest number in the Eurozone.

Those asylum seekers whose application has been rejected and who do not want to return to their home countries voluntarily will receive less money from the Swedish authorities than other migrants in the country, Swedish Migration Agency spokeswoman Alexandra Elias told Sputnik.

European Union officials have urged member countries to quickly send back those who don’t qualify for asylum so that Europe’s welcome can be focused on those who do, such as people fleeing the war in Syria.

The Minister said he had instructed police and Migrationsverket, the national immigration agency, to proceed gradually with the forced repatriation of the migrants.

European law requires people to apply for asylum in the country in which they first set foot, but many have ignored those rules.

Authorities must also be prepared to act against employers who exploit people staying in Sweden without permission and “ensure that it doesn’t pay to remain illegally”, Ygeman said. A 15-year-old asylum seeker was arrested in Molndal, near Gothenburg, after a 22-year-old asylum centre employee was stabbed to death.

“You can seek asylum in Europe but there are a lot of safe countries where you won’t be troubled by war and persecution, so you don’t necessarily have to end up in Sweden“, said Victor Harju, a spokesperson for the interior ministry. Ygeman said the mass deportation would be “a very big challenge“.

Under those conditions, Turkey would agree to take the refugees back, Mr Samsom said.

Yesterday, the bodies of 24 migrants, including 10 children, were discovered off the Greek island of Samos after their boat capsized and 17 others were still missing, the Greek coast guard said, a day after seven other bodies were found near the island of Kos.