Sweden’s government today said it was moving forward with a contested bill that would require authorities to report immigrants believed to be staying in the country illegally to police.
The right-wing coalition government, propped up by the hard-right Sweden Democrats, came into power in 2022 on vows to get tough on immigration and crime.
It is trying to rapidly push through a slew of reforms in various areas ahead of legislative elections in September.
According to the government, over 100,000 people were believed to reside in Sweden without proper documentation, which it referred to as a “shadow society”.
“If we don’t get a grip on this shadow society, it will dig in and become cemented,” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told a press conference.
The new law would require six authorities — including the Swedish Public Employment Service, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Tax Agency — to report immigrants believed to be in the country illegally to police.
“It is unreasonable to have a situation where one agency holds information that the Swedish Migration Agency or the police authority needs in order to enforce deportation decisions, but, due to current confidentiality rules, is not allowed to share it with the enforcing authorities,” Ingemar Kihlstrom, migration policy spokesman for the government coalition partner the Christan Democrats, told reporters.
Introducing a requirement for authorities to report undocumented immigrants has sparked controversy and the law has been referred to as the “snitch law” in Sweden.
Several unions have protested and certain sectors, that were originally meant to be included, are now exempted.
“The government and the Sweden Democrats agree that healthcare, schools, social services and libraries should be exempt from the duty to provide information,” Kihlstrom said.
Akademikerforbundet SSR, a union representing employees at all the affected agencies, said that the bill would be counterproductive.
“The government wants to combat the shadow society but risks achieving the opposite effect. The proposal risks creating a larger shadow society where people avoid contact with public authorities for fear of being reported,” Heike Erkers, chair of the union, said in a statement.
The measure was presented alongside several others, such as increased collection of biometric markers from migrants, intended to increase deportations.
If passed by parliament, the changes would go into effect on July 13.
