Decision on the request to refer the motion
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate was about stopping the deportation of teenagers. MP argues that it is a testament to humanity to stop the deportation of 18-year-olds from their families 1. The party demands a legislative change because the current deportation ban does not cover those who have already received a decision 1. C considers the deportation of young adults who have grown up in Sweden to be an inhumane systemic error 2. The party supports a moratorium and argues that the current world situation constitutes an extraordinary situation 2. V argues that the government's policy is wrong and that those who have already received deportation decisions must not wait for an unknown solution 3. The party calls for a ban law to protect the rights of children and young people 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Annika Hirvonen (MP)
Madam Speaker! I will not detain the entire Riksdag longer than necessary, but there are still some things to say regarding the important issue of deportations of teenagers.
All our parties have now stood behind stopping the deportation of teenagers. It is a fantastic announcement, truly a statement of strength for humanity, that we in Sweden's Riksdag say no to splitting families and sending 18-year-olds away from their parents, in the middle of their schooling, from the country that has become their home.
We know that it concerns hundreds who are currently being processed at the Swedish Migration Agency and have not yet received their decision, but who, thanks to the announcement made by the government on Friday, will not be denied their application to continue staying in Sweden while awaiting a permanent solution. But for everyone who has already received a decision that they are to be deported, nothing has changed. For them, the clock is still ticking. Someone has one week left, someone has a few weeks.
Today we were able to read some horrific testimonies from teenagers and young people who have been taken into detention just because they received a deportation decision. They heard the Prime Minister's words that everyone could apply again. They waited for the gates to be unlocked so that they could return to their everyday lives, their jobs, and their younger siblings and parents. But nothing has changed. The Swedish Migration Agency's deportation stay does not apply to them. Any day can be too late. Any day they might have to leave their homeland, their future, and their family behind.
We still have not received any timetable from the government for when a legislative change will come. But it is a legislative change that is required. Judges in the migration courts have also been out and clarified this. Otherwise, those who have already received deportation decisions from Migrationsverket can be deported from here.
We are in a new situation. Many of these young people are to be deported to countries in the Middle East. The deportations specifically to Iran have been paused. Enforcement has been paused for everyone. However, this is not the case for many other countries in the surrounding area.
We mean that the fact that we are now in a new situation that we could not foresee – no one knows either how it will look in Iraq, in Egypt, and in Somalia in a few weeks – justifies the Riksdag taking up the issue of a stop law for consideration.
We already know that the entire opposition stands behind the proposal for a temporary stop law. It became clear when we discussed the issue in the Social Insurance Committee a week and a day ago. Since then, Jimmie Åkesson and Simona Mohamsson have also announced that they want to see a stop law. It was then that we saw that we had the opportunity to obtain a broad majority in the Swedish Riksdag to, while awaiting the long-term solution, stop not just some but all teenage deportations.
We know from the pandemic crisis that when the Riksdag and the government are in agreement, it can go quickly to produce rapid crisis legislation. If the Government Offices do the work and we in the Riksdag process quickly, it has gone as fast as a few days.
It is these young people's futures that are at stake. We do not want to see more young people deported in the same way as the sisters Darya and Donya, who are now in Iran. They were among the last who were deported to Iran before the deportation ban, two young women who are now sending messages to their friends: Do not forget us! We will die.
These are people's children, even if they have turned 18. They are young people who have dreamed of a future where they build our country stronger and better. Those who have already been forced away from here, perhaps we may not get back. The sisters Darya and Donya have been told no to come back.
I appeal to each and every one to see the urgency in this matter, the urgent situation that now prevails in the Middle East and which we could not foresee, and to vote for the motion to be referred for consideration in the committee.
In this speech, Janine Alm Ericson, Mats Berglund, Camilla Hansén, Daniel Helldén, Linus Lakso, Rebecka Le Moine, Katarina Luhr, Amanda Palmstierna, Jan Riise, Jacob Risberg, Nils Seye Larsen, Malte Tängmark Roos and Ulrika Westerlund (all MP), Anna Lasses (C), Malcolm Momodou Jallow (V) and Daniel Riazat (-) agreed.
Niels Paarup-Petersen (C)
Madam Speaker! For the Centre Party, there is no doubt that the deportations of teenagers must be stopped. The government's misguided policy has led to young adults being deported for the sole reason that they turn 18, even though they have grown up in Sweden, have gone to school here, and have their entire family here. It is an inhumane systemic error that tears teenagers away from their families. It is deeply inhumane.
Centerpartiet also considers that there is currently a discrepancy between the pause on teenage deportations that the government has promised and what is currently happening. The deportations are, in fact, continuing right now. Both the Swedish Migration Agency and the migration courts have also stated that these deportations will continue to occur in the future as well.
We can observe that they continue – despite the government's promises to the contrary, despite that the government has said that it is urgent to stop the deportations and despite that those who have already been deported are now denied permission to return. Therefore, it is truly urgent to stop them.
That is why we in Centerpartiet support that a moratorium be promptly established, Madam Speaker. We also consider that the uneasy global situation we are now seeing constitutes an extraordinary situation which means that the regulatory framework regarding events of greater importance should be appropriate to use. Therefore, Madam Speaker, Centerpartiet supports the proposal to stop all deportations of teenagers and that the Committee on the Constitution starts a preparation of motion 3926.
In this speech, Daniel Bäckström (C) and Camilla Hansén (MP) agreed.
Tony Haddou (V)
Madam Speaker! This weekend I was at the home of Donya and Darya's family in Mölndal. The girls were torn from the family and deported to Iran in October. When they turned 18, they received deportation decisions as birthday presents. At the time of deportation, they were both studying to become nurses at the college in Trollhättan.
Now the bombs are falling over Iran, and they are no longer reachable. In an apartment in Mölndal, a mother, a father, a little sister, and a little brother are sitting, and they have become almost speechless from the trauma.
When the government paused the deportations of teenagers on Friday, it was said that healthcare staff would be given greater opportunities to stay going forward, which the sisters had, after all, studied for. Those who make a so-called track change and apply for a residence permit on a new basis shall, going forward, not have to leave the country, as the sisters were urged to do and did.
The deportations of teenagers have occurred due to political decisions. Last week, the government admitted that their policy in this area is wrong. Now we, all members of parliament in the chamber, are giving an opportunity to rectify the mistake and do right and proper. The government wanted order and clarity in the migration policy, but instead, they have created a great mess – and it must now be sorted out.
Many believed the Prime Minister's words on Friday, namely that all teenage deportations will now be stopped. But the Swedish Migration Agency quickly responded that all young people who have received a decision will still be deported. The pause only applies to those who have not yet received a decision. The Migration Court states that these are not covered by the pause, but that deportation decisions can still be made.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at the press conference that the young people who have received deportation decisions can make a new application, but since there is no new legislation in place, they will not receive any other decision than what they have received under the current legislation.
If you are Prime Minister and say that the teenagers shall not be deported, it must happen politically and with immediate action. If you give hope to the young people and the families, you must fulfill what you have said. It must not just become a way to silence the criticism that has emerged over the past month.
Madam Speaker! Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet are now presenting a proposal for a stop law for the deportations of teenagers. We move that such a preparation be initiated on the grounds that the government's decision does not cover those who have already received deportation decisions and that deportation decisions can still be made.
These people and their families are sitting at home right now with a lump in their stomachs, and they do not know what their situation will look like. They cannot wait for the government to return with a valve that we do not know when it will arrive or what it will look like. The situation is acute for these children and families.
The young people who here and now are threatened with deportation because of a law that all parties have now said is wrong do not deserve to have their lives shattered. They must not have their lives, schooling, and future destroyed. The government has promised to stop the teenage deportations, and now it is for real. That is what the pressure we exert today is about, namely to stop this. It is real people, real teenagers and their families, who are tormented by anxiety and uncertainty about the future. They live here, have grown up here, are educating themselves and working here. They are deeply rooted and established and have their entire lives in Sweden. There is no reason whatsoever for them to be separated from their families and risk ending up in a vulnerable, insecure, and uncertain life situation. It is a matter of our children's friends, our neighbors' children, our young friends and our colleagues.
I know that many of you in here, just like me, are parents. I also know that you have understood that the situation is unsustainable – all parties have said so – when it comes to a child who turns 18 no longer being a part of the nuclear family. Such legislation is not worthy of a country like Sweden. It is difficult to see at all what is reasonable in an order where people are forced to live apart from their children, siblings, and families. Sweden should be a country that holds the rights of children and young people high. They shall be protected, respected, and upheld. We shall not send young people to countries where they do not have their family and where, in many cases, they have never been. They also have a right to security and family life.
I am truly turning to everyone in here. I have met these young people and looked them in the eyes. If you do not vote for a stop law – will you then be able to look them in the eyes and stand by that? Now we need to stop all teenage deportations. That is what the vote is a step towards. I therefore move for approval of the motion.
In this speech, Andrea Andersson Tay, Nooshi Dadgostar, Kajsa Fredholm, Hanna Gunnarsson, Malcolm Momodou Jallow, Maj Karlsson, Birger Lahti, Andreas Lennkvist Manriquez, Isabell Mixter, Karin Rågsjö, Håkan Svenneling and Ilona Szatmári Waldau (all V) as well as Janine Alm Ericson, Camilla Hansén, Linus Lakso, Rebecka Le Moine, Amanda Palmstierna and Jacob Risberg (all MP) agreed.
148 for the Speaker's proposal
147 for Annika Hirvonen's and Tony Haddous' proposal
The Chamber approved the Speaker's proposal. The motion was referred to the committee.
Distribution of the votes by party:
For the Speaker's proposal: 62 SD, 56 M, 16 KD, 13 L, 1 -
For Annika Hirvonen's and Tony Haddous' proposal: 89 S, 21 C, 18 V, 15 MP, 4 -
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.