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NOA Border Police Section Chief Patrik Engström does not want to answer whether Eva Hållsten and other refugee activists are doing the right thing or wrong when buying tickets for Ali and others who want to leave the country. That’s a matter for the court, you think.
If Eva does the right thing morally, the border police chief doesn’t want to say anything about it either.
– But I hope Eva understands that what happens with civil disobedience is that it is not based on impunity, but on something that you do, aware that you can be convicted and punished, says Patrik Engström.
However it is, from the perspective of the Swedish border police, bad when asylum seekers who have been turned away in Sweden are diverted and tried to smuggle themselves into Germany and France. It is important that the Swedish authorities keep track of who is in the country.
– At the same time, I see these movements as natural. People who are having a hard time and who have gone to Europe to build a better future … It is clear that they will try to stay in Europe in every way possible, says Patrik Engström.
Refugee activist Eva Hållsten, of whom DN speaks in a report.
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
There will always be, says the head of the border police, different types of loopholes for those who want to enter illegally between the Member States of the Union.
– The only way to avoid this is to end Schengen cooperation and close the borders again, and close them much more than they have ever been.
Patrik Engström believes, like Ali in the DN report, that it may be easier to live in Germany without papers, without a permit, than in Sweden.
– Germany, a much larger country. Furthermore, it is a federation of states, where the federal level, with immigration and police agencies, is partly quite weak. In some German states it is quite easy to stay away.
In parallel with the current Outside of Sweden, the Swedish border police see an increase in people who show up and want to voluntarily return to Afghanistan and Iraq. The tightening of the economy during the pandemic is one of the reasons they give up trying to stay, believes Patrik Engström.
– Opportunities to earn money working illegally have worsened. As an employer, you cannot receive severance pay for undeclared personnel. They just get rid of the work.
Patrik Engström has met many asylum seekers who, like Ali, have been deeply disappointed in Sweden following their refusal decision. They had heard signs from Sweden and Europe that they were welcome, and suddenly they weren’t. Political statements, such as “We work das” by Angela Merkel and “My Europe does not build walls” by Stefan Löfven, reached people fleeing.
– Politicians who spoke out strongly in 2015 may have leaned primarily toward a local opinion. But the communication also went to others. And the messages were repeated and reinforced in the informal online information ecosystems.
Ali, who DN talks about in the report, already wanted to go to Sweden and seek asylum when he fled to the EU five years ago, crossing the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. Like many other Afghans who have had their asylum claims rejected, Ali believes that Sweden has engaged in double messages. “Sweden said we were welcome, but then we weren’t.”
Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
What is said in online groups and rumors among migrants are often more important sources of information for on the run than official information on government websites. Here are important lessons to be learned from 2015, says the border police chief.
– It would have been good to have a consortium of credible NGOs that said clearly: this is how Europe works and this is what matters.
So how does the border police chief view Eva Hållsten and other volunteers from the Swedish network for the rights of asylum seekers?
– Most of them are very lively people and who really love well. But this is a legally and politically complicated area, and it’s easy to get lost.
Patrik Engström is concerned about certain rumors that are spreading in activist networks. Like the Swedish authorities who trick Afghans into writing on paper that they want to voluntarily return.
– It’s just not true. I know how the reception is going in Kabul. And if it had been the case that someone had been tricked into writing that they would return voluntarily, they would have already cracked when they reached Kabul.
According to Patrik Engström, the Kabul ministry had never agreed to receive Afghans who did not want to return themselves.
– They had to return to Sweden immediately.
Also read: Ali and thousands more flee Sweden – Eva bought her ticket
