The Swedish Prime Minister has announced an “urgent” migrant crisis review dealing with the unprecedented rise of asylum applications. Rather than looking to reduce their number, he is instead calling for changes to make life more comfortable for migrants when they arrive.
The move sets in stone Sweden’s radically different approach to mass migration to it’s two northern neighbours Finland and Norway, which are in the process of tightening border controls, and southern neighbour Denmark which is taking significant steps to cut benefits. While Sweden’s resources are stretched and struggling to cope with the volume of humans flowing into the nation, the policy appears to be to welcome yet more people – and pay for it, no matter the cost.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said this morning, while visiting the United Nations in New York: “We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of refugees seeking asylum. That’s why I have told Migration Minister Morgan Johansson to urgently review what steps need to be taken… People need to get roofs over their heads and the children have to start school”.
TheLocal.se reports Löfven will ask Swedish governmental bodies such as the Swedish Migration Agency, the Civil Contingencies Agency, and local authorities to work together to ensure newcomers get access to free housing, healthcare, education, and other benefits even quicker after their arrival. The government has already deployed migration agency officers to major points of ingress, such as Stockholm and Malmo railway stations to help arrivals get their asylum paperwork done as soon as they step off the train.
The Swedish state has had the power since 1992 to seize the homes of Swedish citizens in times of national emergency, raising the prospect that holiday homes could be forcibly given by the state to new arrivals, as outlined in a Gatestone Institute report today. A columnist for the Swedish Express newspaper has already urged Swedes to “make way” and “hand over the keys to their apartments to those in greater need”.
The decision to welcome yet more migrants to the country flies in the face of the experiences of the people on the ground working to implement the Swedish government’s policy. Speaking to Breitbart London last week, recently retired Malmo police Chief Superintendent Torsten Elofsson said migration to Sweden had changed both the nature and frequency of crime in his city of Malmo, the national border town with continental Europe.
Remarking that “now we have the bridge from Copenhagen, this is a border town. Most of the drugs going to the rest of Scandinavia comes through here – this is a key route for smuggling drugs, weapons, people, and so on”, Elofsson said confiscating illegal guns from criminals was now a daily occurrence in the once peaceful nations.
Follow Oliver Lane on Twitter: Follow @Oliver_Lane or e-mail to: olane@breitbart.com
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