Failed Afghan asylum seekers need to return home, Sweden’s migration minister says

Sweden’s migration minister on Thursday called on the European Union to establish a common procedure for issuing identification and travel documents to Afghan nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected or who have committed crimes in their host countries.

Minister Johan Forssell said it is currently “more or less impossible” to deport Afghan nationals who do not meet asylum criteria because many lack valid ID or travel documents.

Although the EU has no interest in making “any political arrangements” that could lend legitimacy to Afghanistan’s rulers, Forssell said the bloc’s 27 member states could still reach a technical agreement to issue documentation that would speed up deportations.

“It is a major concern for us that we are seeing quite a few cases of people that have committed crimes, Afghan people that committed crimes in Sweden, and it is more or less impossible to expel them today,” Forssell told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in the Cypriot capital.

“If you come to Europe and you commit crimes, you have chosen yourself not to be part of our society. And we need to do everything we can to make sure that you are expelled,” he said.

Forssell added that similar challenges exist with failed Syrian asylum seekers, but said Afghan nationals remain the priority.

He said Afghan nationals are largely unable to obtain IDs or passports from their home country because most Afghan embassies in Europe are not recognized by the Islamic Emirate authorities. Forssell noted that the EU’s executive arm has recently had contacts in Kabul on the issue, describing it as a “very positive first step.”

According to him, there is “broad consensus” among many EU countries facing similar challenges to take further steps to accelerate the deportation of failed Afghan asylum seekers or those who have committed crimes.

Forssell said more than half of Afghan asylum applications are expected to be rejected and that “they need to go back home,” warning that public support for accepting refugees who do meet asylum criteria could erode otherwise.

He also proposed that Afghan nationals facing deportation in different EU countries could be grouped together and returned on chartered flights.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said EU member states are engaging at a technical level with Afghanistan’s “effective authorities” to better facilitate repatriations.

Sweden’s traditionally generous asylum policy has tightened over the past decade, amid what Forssell described as growing public concern over the “problems” associated with mass migration. He said these concerns played a key role in the formation of the current government three years ago, which relies on support from the hard-right Sweden Democrats.

Forssell noted that asylum applications in Sweden are at their lowest level since 1985. “So I think we are doing very well and we are really delivering what the Swedish population wants to see from us,” he said.