What happened
During 2023, the Tidö Government tasked Migrationsverket with prioritizing cases concerning the revocation of residence permits and protection status. According to the agency's annual report for 2024, 1 280 such cases were initiated, and protection status was revoked in 56 percent of the decided cases. In an opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter, three lawyers from Folkets advokatbyrå sound the alarm on how the investigations are conducted for LGBTQ individuals. The agency initiates reviews if, for example, a person has had a child or lives with someone of a different sex. Individuals are summoned to oral interviews without a public counsel and are pressed for details about their intimate relationships, even though the burden of proof rests with the agency.
Our analysis
It is the government that ordered the hunt and Migrationsverket that carries it out at the expense of people's constitutionally protected private lives. During 2024, 1 280 revocation cases were initiated, but instead of first securing evidence, individuals are summoned for questioning where they are pressed to explain their relationships. The mainstream debate misses that the burden of proof in these cases rests entirely on the state, not on the individual, and that those affected are not even informed of their right to remain silent. The agency uses people's fear of deportation to make them answer questions that no native Swede would ever be forced to answer by a case officer. Now, legal experts are demanding action at both leadership and political levels to stop these unlawful investigations.
Explained
Revocation of protection status means that the state revokes a previous decision that a person is entitled to protection as a refugee in Sweden.