The Danish parliament has given its approval to a new policy that will see criminal migrants placed on an uninhabited island before their deportation.
The proposal will see criminal asylum seekers placed on the island of Lindholm, located in Stege Bay in the south-east of the country. It passed in a parliamentary vote with 54 votes for, 23 against, and 29 abstentions, TV ØST reports.
The proposal was overwhelmingly supported by right-wing parties, including both the Conservatives and the Danish People’s Party, which have both maintained a tough stance on migrant crime in recent years.
The Danish Social Democrats abstained from the vote saying they required more research into the choice of location but were supportive of opening another expatriation centre in the country.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Kristian Jensen detailed the proposal, saying that along with illegal migrants and foreign criminals, returning jihadists will also be sent to the island once it is scheduled to open in 2021.
The 17-acre island is currently undergoing cleaning and decontamination as it was previously used by Denmark as a laboratory for research into agricultural diseases.
“There are more limits to how much you can move around when you are on a deserted island. You are in principle obliged to remain on the island. So we will have more control over where they are,” Jensen said.
The approval of the project comes only days after the Danish government expressed a desire to see at least 1,000 Somalians return to their home country, with Denmark’s migration minister Inger Støjberg saying: “If you no longer need our protection and your life and health are no longer at risk in your home country, and specifically in Somalia, you must, of course, return home and rebuild the country from which you came from.”
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