Sweden to increase deportations of convicted immigrants

Sweden flag and Stockholm old town Gamla Stan in background

Sweden’s government on Wednesday said it wanted to drastically increase the number of immigrants deported after being convicted, saying any crime with a penalty higher than a fine should lead to a deportation as a rule.

“For far too long in Sweden, foreign criminals who have committed serious crimes in the country have been coddled,” Minister for Migration Johan Forssell told a press conference.

The new bill would introduce several measures to increase deportations of criminals, including an obligation for prosecutors to request deportation as part of sentencing rather than leaving it up to the prosecutors to decide. The government said they believed the new legislation would lead to about 3,000 deportations per year — six times the current average of about 500 per year.

The bill will first be sent to Sweden’s Council on Legislation, which scrutinises bills the government intends to put before parliament.

Forssell said they intended for the law to go into effect on September 1.

The Nordic country has struggled for over a decade to contain a surge in organised violent crime, linked primarily to gang wars and battles to control the drug market.

Deadly shootings have declined but bombings have increased, statistics show.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right-wing government, propped up by the far-right Sweden Democrats, came to power in 2022 vowing to crack down on immigration and crime.

It has given police extended powers and introduced harsher sentences and measures to target youth crime, including plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13. Vanguard