Rejected asylum seekers trapped in the system for 10 years
URL: http://jp.dk/indland/article2656633.ece
68 asylum seekers, including several children, has been in the Danish asylum system for more than 10 years.
Normally, the Immigration Office only publishes the average length of stay (about 500 days), but question from a committee from Enhedslistens Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen has discovered a group, people who have been in the asylum system in a very long time. It is unknown how many of the 68 who came here as children, but 7 are still minors according to the figures.
Several reports have demonstrated that long stay (in the asylum center) can result in psychological trauma and suicide attempts as well as bad economics.
“It’s a human catastrophe that someone is sitting so long in an uncertain situation,” says Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen.
The long stay is caused by the fact that it’s impossible to send the people back while they refuse to leave Denmark voluntarily.
Will not soften the rules
The Immigration Act has an amnesty clause that a rejected asylum seeker can still get a residence permit, if it’s been “futile” to send him / her out in 18 months. But this amnesty rules demands on cooperation, and therefore it is only used once in 2010 and certainly not in 2011, according to preliminary figures.
Both the Alliance and the Radical government partner will lower cooperation requirement.
“It is incomprehensible to me that the clause was not used,” says the radical immigration spokesman Zenia Stampe.
Liberale will not soften the rules down.
“The Radicals are known not to neglect a single opportunity to erode foreign policy, and this is no exception,” says integration spokesperson Inger Støjberg (V).
Justice Minister, Morten Bødskov, stands firm that refused asylum seekers as the 68 to return home:
»Danish Aliens Act is based on the principle that an alien who has been definitively rejected by the independent Refugee Board, must leave.”
He will later this year negotiating with the Alliance and Liberal Alliance to lower the requirement for cooperation when it comes to who should be allowed to live outside the asylum centers.
