An MP for Sweden’s centrist Moderate party has expressed her regret for supporting the countries’ lax immigration policies saying that this was “fundamentally wrong”.
In her remarks Louise Meijer said that she “changed her mind” following previous statements she had made in support of Sweden’s ‘refugees welcome’ policies.
Meije told Swedish news outlet Expressen that she is now “advocating an even stricter migration policy than the one I opposed at the time,”.
Vi var många som hade fel om invandringen. Jag erkänner det och har ändrat mig.
Kan vi lita på Socialdemokraterna när Magdalena Andersson inte kan göra samma sak, skriver Louise Meijer (M).https://t.co/ZAkVgPFe9T— Expressen Debatt (@ExpressenDebatt) March 9, 2024
Speaking of the effects of large numbers of non-western migrants coming into the country she said that Sweden is now a “completely different country than it was at the end of the 20th century”, and that per capita, it has “received the most immigrants in the Western world”.
Commenting on large demographic changers in the Nordic country Meije said that today “more than a third of Sweden’s population has a foreign background.” adding that in 1987, “the corresponding figure was 11 per cent.”
Meijer said that “about 20%” of the population of Sweden was now of “non-European” and “non-Western” descent.
She said that to her it was “obvious that the large immigration to Sweden has been followed by several major problems” and that many of these immigrants are not economically self-sufficient.
She pointed to several Swedish municipalities where residents with foreign backgrounds outnumber native Swedes.
Meijer argued that among the non-western immigrants there are serious problems with criminality and that people “of foreign origin largely commit serious organised crime. The honour culture, separatism and Islamism are limiting and dangerous,” she said.
Saying how large volumes of immigration over short periods of time had meant that efforts to integrate newcomers to Swedish culture and lifestyle had largely failed, she said that newcomers “need to work, speak Swedish” and do their “duty” before they can start to “demand” rights [to social welfare etc.]
Saying that “deportation or repatriation should then be a real option”, Meije said that those who do not want to integrate should not be allowed to stay in Sweden.
Meijer said it was “clear” to her that in order for Sweden “to be as good a country as possible for all the people who live here, we must have minimal asylum immigration here for the foreseeable future.”
This she said is “needed” in order for the country “to stay together”.