Denmark Sets Up New Migrant Return Office to Increase Deportations

The Danish government has set up a new return office within the Ministry of Immigration and Integration aimed at increasing the number of deportations of migrants without residency permits.

The office, named the Home Travel Agency, is scheduled to begin work on August 1st. Its establishment is the result of a decision made in September 2019 and combines tasks currently under the responsibility of several other agencies.

The Home Travel Agency will cover the estimated 1,100 rejected asylum seekers believed to be residing in Denmark currently, according to a government press release. It will not be associated with forced deportation measures.

“It is important for the government that foreigners without legal residence travel home. We have had the Danish Immigration Service for many years. They provide, among other things, residence permits for refugees and family reunions,” Foreign Affairs and Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye said.

“Now, we set up the Home Travel Agency to ensure that people also return home when they no longer have the right to be in Denmark. An authority that only works with home travel. I think that makes good sense,” he added.

The previous Danish government headed by former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen also expressed a desire to see migrants return home, especially Somalians.

Previous Danish migration minister Inger Støjberg had also argued that Somalians should return and rebuild their own country.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that young migrant men, mainly from Somalia, Lebanon, and Morocco, were highly prone to criminality.

A report by think tank Unitos claimed that 62 per cent of Somali men they interviewed had a criminal record before the age of 30.

Other countries have faced problems with deportations of illegals and failed asylum seekers due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. In neighbouring Sweden, some fear that many migrants set for removal will have to be released as laws do not allow authorities to hold them indefinitely.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com