Sweden to expel up to 80,000 asylum seekers

Press TV / January 28, 2016

Sweden intends to expel up to 80,000 of refugees who crossed its borders last year, saying they did not qualify for being asylum seekers.

“We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000,” Sweden’s Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said on Wednesday, adding that Stockholm had called on the police and authorities in charge of refugees to organize their expulsion.

The application of these people have been rejected and their expulsion from the country will be carried out through specially chartered aircraft, he further said, adding that due to the large number of these people, the completion of the process would take several years.

Home to nearly 10 million people, the Scandinavian country accepted over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015. It has the highest per capita number of asylum seekers among European countries.

The EU is facing its worst refugee crisis since World War II with more than a million estimated to have entered the continent in 2015 while a record number is expected for this year.