Swedish Migration Board Director-General Mikael Ribbenvik has slammed the Swedish government, stating that current asylum rules allow potential terrorists and war criminals to be given refugee protection.
Ribbenvik stated that the current regulations in Sweden that cover asylum seeker cases are simply unreasonable and allow for potential terrorists and others to remain in Sweden even if they have been rejected for asylum claims.
“Should potential terrorists and war criminals who should be expelled be allowed to stay in Sweden on the same terms as the people who have been given protection here? The answer to that question should be a clear no,” Ribbenvik said.
“But today we have a regulatory framework which means that in many cases they can stay in Sweden on roughly the same conditions as others and, in addition, move freely in and out of the country,” he added, in comments reported by Expressen.
The Migration Board head went on to add that the board has repeatedly referred suspected threats among asylum seekers to the Swedish Security police (Sapo) but has been told on multiple occasions that the individuals do not pose enough of a threat to have their application rejected.
“Despite the deportation decisions that the Migration Board makes in these cases, people often remain in the country. This is because, as a rule, decisions cannot be enforced because no one may be deported to a country where he or she risks the death penalty, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment,” he said.
Several war criminals have been discovered among the migrant population in recent years, with a Syrian asylum seeker charged in 2017 for posing in front of dead and wounded members of Islamic State.
A year later, the Migration Board announced that the number of suspected war criminal cases had increased with 52 cases reported in 2017, double the number from two years before.