Newly Arrived Migrants Delighted at Sweden's Border Closure

Even newly arrived migrants realized Sweden was incapable of caring for so many newcomers

Sweden Border Closure Getty

by OLIVER LANE
Breitbart
In a spectacular example of pulling the ladder up, migrants interviewed last night said they were delighted by the introduction of border controls in Sweden.

Despite having been in the country for less than 24-hours, the newly-arrived asylum seekers were already complaining there are too many migrants in Sweden. Speaking to high circulation left-wing daily Afton Bladet, one young man said: “Close the border. We are far too many who have come. They can not take care of all of us”.

He complained the Swedish staff receiving migrants were stressed, and there wasn’t enough bedding to go around.

One Syrian migrant told the paper: “I’m surprised how it is here in Sweden. if they can’t take care of us properly, they should not take so many”.

Surely these people must be far-right extremists to say such things? Huh?

The Swedish minister for interior affairs announced the temporary suspension of the Schengen zone agreement at the southern borders of the nation with Germany and Denmark yesterday evening. The move has surprised many, as only days before the prime minister moved to condemn others who had suggested introducing limited border checks.

Perhaps none were more surprised by yesterday’s announcement than Swedish police, who have been called upon to actually enforce the border checks. A police spokesman said just like the rest of Sweden, they only learnt of the plan as the interior minister made the announcement public, and they spent much of the evening and early morning finding at least an extra 300 officers to man the borders.

The deteriorating level of care for migrants in Sweden may go some way to vindicate the Sweden Democrats, who have come under fire from the left-wing establishment in the country this week over their warnings to migrants that the country was not the utopia they hoped for. Sending volunteers to the Greek islands to hand out leaflets to migrants, the literature warned Sweden was running out of beds and many migrants would be sent home.

Although many media pundits and politicians accused the Sweden Democrats of pushing lies to migrants, the government decision to close the borders today because of overcrowding has gone some way to prove their point.

The question now is, did they do it for sane reasons, or for political expedience? Feeling a little cynical today!

Sweden Imposes Temporary Border Controls to Deal with Migrants

© Roger Sahlström / YouTube

Sweden is introducing temporary border controls to halt the influx of refugees and to screen those trying to enter the country illegally. The 10-day closure, effective from Thursday at noon, was announced by the country’s interior minister, Anders Ygeman.

EU refugee & migrant influx
“A record number of refugees are arriving in Sweden. The migration office is under strong pressure... and the police believe there is a threat against public order,” Ygeman told a press conference.

Border controls, the minister believes, will “bring order” to the national asylum system. Ygeman mentioned the refugees will be given options to apply for asylum in Sweden or leave the country. Stockholm may consider extending the border controls for 20 days.

The restrictions will primarily affect the Oresund bridge where migrants cross from Denmark, as well as ferry ports in the south that receive vessels from Denmark and Germany. The government has already asked the ferry companies in Germany to check passengers’ IDs before they board boats bound for Sweden.

Sweden, which receives the most migrants per capita in the EU, says it has welcomed more than 120,000 people since January. By the end of the year, up to 190,000 asylum seekers are expected to reach the country, more than doubling the number who came in 2014, when the Scandinavian country received 81,000 refugees.

In light of this, the minister said that Sweden is the country that has taken “the greatest responsibility for the refugee crisis” and that other countries need to follow suit.

The moves to tighten its borders came as European and African leaders met in Malta to hammer out a joint strategy to deal with the biggest refugees crisis since World War II. About 140,000 of the nearly 800,000 migrants who have reached Europe by sea in 2015 came from Africa, according to figures from the International Organization of Migration.

Following the border closure, Fredrik Bengtsson, a spokesman for the Swedish Migration Agency, said that currently the authorities are struggling to deal with the influx.

This is not good!
Swedish migration officers have been picking people up by bus once they cross the border, before delivering them to government offices. But “once they get there, quite a lot don’t enter and get registered, but disappear,” Bengtsson said.

The communications director for the migration office, Mikael Hvinlund, stressed that border closure will offer asylum seekers better living conditions.

“People are forced to sleep in tents, in offices and in evacuation centres” normally used for natural disasters, Hvinlund said. “We are not fulfilling our mission, which is to offer a roof to everyone... Re-establishing border controls can help us.”

Last week, Stockholm urged the European Commission (EC) to arrange for some migrants to be moved to other EU states.

Sweden is the fourth country to re-establish border controls since the start of the migrant crisis this summer. In September, Germany, Austria, and Slovenia temporarily limited the free movement policy within the EU.

Slovenia building fences
While Sweden moves ahead with its migration approach, Slovenia announced that a razor-wire fence is being erected along the border with Croatia to stem the flow of migrants.

Slovenia starts erecting razor fence along Croatian border
amid migrant crisis © Antonio Bronic

Slovenia followed Hungary in sealing its borders last month. Following the move Slovenia became the epicenter of Balkan route for the thousands of migrants who are fleeing conflict in Africa and the Middle East.