…the country’s transport minister is celebrating the fact that Sweden has “negative immigration”, and more people are thought to be leaving the country than entering for the first time in more than half a century.
“The number of asylum applications is at a historic low, asylum-related residence permits continue to decrease and for the first time in 50 years Sweden has more people moving to another country,” announced Maria Malmer Stenergard earlier this month.
Sweden’s moderate-led government, supported by the far-right Sweden Democrats, has pursued increasingly restrictive asylum policies, including “professional law” programs that would legally require public sector workers to report undocumented migrants.
…the UN refugee commissioner confirmed this. It is surprising, says UNHCR, that while global migration has been at its highest, the number of people seeking asylum in Sweden has been very low.
“Statistics show that Sweden has a large number of immigrants for the first time in decades,” Annika Sandlund, UNHCR’s representative for the Nordic and Baltic countries, told the Guardian.
Here’s the full Guardian piece. I think this will all work out reasonably well.
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