Danish Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye has stated that his dream goal is no new asylum seekers in Denmark, saying that the current asylum system is “immoral”.
Tesfaye, a member of the Social Democrats who comes from a migration background himself, has been a proponent of having asylum seekers processed in African countries, rather than in Denmark itself.
“My dream is zero asylum seekers in Denmark,” he told Swedish news website Bulletin, adding: “I believe that the existing European asylum system cannot be defended either morally or politically.”
“The asylum system is being used for migration on a scale that our welfare society cannot absorb, and it challenges cohesion in Denmark. That is why we have to bring asylum immigration under control,” he said.
According to Tesfaye, having asylum seekers processed abroad near their home countries would “eliminate all expenditure on the asylum system with lawyers, accommodation, interpreters and repatriation for those who have had their application rejected.”
“Instead, use the money where the conflicts are and let the UN decide which quota refugees can settle in Denmark. It’s my dream,” he said.
Tesfaye spoke of his own background, saying: “I grew up in the 1980s with a single mother, who was unemployed. It was the welfare state that gave me my opportunities. It was the welfare state that lifted me out of poverty and gave me an education as a bricklayer. I can’t defend breaking that society. And we will if too many migrants come here.”
He also addressed links between mass migration and crime, saying: “People who do not become integrated, who find themselves at odds with our society, commit more criminal acts. If you don’t have immigration under control, you get violent, crude crime. Right now, crime is falling in Denmark. The number of gang members is decreasing. That is really positive.”
Tesfaye’s hard line on immigration is shared by Social Democrat leader and Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, who spoke about a goal of zero asylum seekers in January of this year.
“We cannot promise zero asylum seekers, but we can set out the vision that we also did before the elections, namely that we want a new asylum system and then we do what we can to introduce it,” Frederiksen said.