[continued from previous message]   
      
   He believes the government’s tough new policies are long overdue: ‘It’s   
   too easy to come to Sweden. But people don’t dare to speak out. If you   
   have an opinion, they throw the racist card in your face.’   
      
   This is an observation shared by Peter Bloom, 61, who also lives   
   locally. ‘Of course we’re afraid,’ he says. ‘The situation is hell. But   
   if you complain, you get accused of being Right-wing. You’re not allowed   
   to say anything bad about migrants. Many Swedish people are blind, deaf   
   and dumb to the problem: it’s a good idea to make it harder to come here.’   
      
   As well as toughening up entry restrictions, the government is also   
   hoping to encourage thousands of migrants who have settled here legally   
   to leave voluntarily.   
      
   New migration minister Johan Forssell recently boasted: ‘We are in the   
   midst of a paradigm shift in our migration policy.’ He added that from   
   2026, migrants who voluntarily choose to return to their country of   
   origin will be eligible for a grant of almost £26,000.   
      
   The headline initiative replaces a previous grant of just £740 per adult   
   and £370 per child which has been in place since 1984. In 2023, just 70   
   people applied for the miserly sums, with just one person receiving the   
   payment.   
      
   It’s true that £26,000 goes a long way in Syria, where the average wage   
   is just £17 per month. But just how likely are migrants to take up this   
   generous offer when so many have been through great tribulations to come   
   to Sweden in the first place?   
      
   To answer this question, I was given rare permission to visit a   
   municipal school for adult learning in the centre of Stockholm which   
   largely caters to immigrants studying Swedish and vocational courses.   
      
   A babble of languages echoed in the corridors as I was escorted through   
   a labyrinth of pre-fabricated walls beneath worryingly sagging ceilings.   
   Eventually I found myself in a classroom full of 40 adult students, the   
   majority from Africa, Asia and South America, all with legal residency   
   in Sweden.   
      
   Among them was Marina, from Afghanistan, who claimed asylum 11 years   
   ago. ‘My husband had prostate cancer,’ she told the Mail, tears rolling   
   down her cheeks. ‘When he died [in Kabul], they tried to sell me to the   
   man who I had borrowed money from to pay for his medical treatment. “If   
   you don’t take him then we will kill you,” I was told.’   
      
   Marina, from Afghanistan , who claimed asylum 11 years ago. Sweden¿s   
   tough new restrictions on family visas mean she has failed to meet the   
   income threshold required to reunite with her daughters, now 16 and 17   
   +   
   7   
   View gallery   
   Marina, from Afghanistan , who claimed asylum 11 years ago. Sweden’s   
   tough new restrictions on family visas mean she has failed to meet the   
   income threshold required to reunite with her daughters, now 16 and 17   
      
   Marina has since been trying to bring her two daughters, now 16 and 17,   
   to live with her. Sadly for her, Sweden’s tough new restrictions on   
   family visas mean she has failed to meet the income threshold required   
   to reunite with her daughters.   
      
   And for Marina’s youngest daughter, it is already too late. She was sold   
   to a man for about £19,000 in Kabul earlier this year. ‘I’m going to   
   appeal the decision now to try to bring my other daughter,’ Marina   
   continued. ‘Or they will sell her, too.’   
      
   Might Marina – who earns a modest living in adult care in her adopted   
   country – be tempted to return to Kabul and reunite with her daughters   
   if she can claim the £26,000 grant in two years’ time?   
      
   ‘What use is money to a single woman in Afghanistan under the Taliban?’   
   she demanded, meeting my gaze. ‘I know lots of people who have come here   
   because they weren’t safe in their home country. We don’t want money, we   
   want safety.’   
      
   She added: ‘At night, when I cannot sleep, I sing for my daughters.   
   Maybe God will hear me.’   
      
   One man who is deaf to Marina’s cries is populist Right-wing politician,   
   Nima Gholam Ali Pour. An Iranian refugee himself, who came to the   
   country with his parents in 1987, the 42-year-old is one of the leading   
   anti-immigration voices within the hard-Right Swedish Democrats – on   
   whose support the ruling centre-Right Moderate Party’s coalition relies.   
      
   Populist Right-wing politician, Nima Gholam Ali Pour. An Iranian refugee   
   himself, who came to the country with his parents in 1987, the   
   42-year-old is one of the leading anti-immigration voices within the   
   hard-Right Swedish Democrats   
   +   
   7   
   View gallery   
   Populist Right-wing politician, Nima Gholam Ali Pour. An Iranian refugee   
   himself, who came to the country with his parents in 1987, the   
   42-year-old is one of the leading anti-immigration voices within the   
   hard-Right Swedish Democrats   
      
   Pour made headlines last year when he described mosques as ‘nests of   
   evil’, while he is the author of books entitled Why Multiculturalism Is   
   Oppression and Allah Does Not Decide In Sweden.   
      
   ‘Sweden has had very difficult problems with immigration in recent   
   years,’ he told me in his office in the Riksdag – the Swedish Parliament   
   – this week, under a poster emblazoned with his party’s motto: ‘Safety   
   and Tradition.’   
      
   ‘We have areas that are 90 per cent immigrants who don’t accept Swedish   
   values and where ethnic Swedes have had to move out. Most people don’t   
   want Sweden to become like the Middle East. And why should we receive   
   more migrants when we can’t integrate those who are already here?’   
      
   Integration has undoubtedly proved a major problem, with foreign-born   
   citizens three times more likely to be unemployed than native Swedes.   
      
   And Pour believes the tide of public opinion is turning in Sweden   
   against mass immigration.   
      
   A typical bedroom inside the Hägersten migrant return centre in Sweden   
   +   
   7   
   View gallery   
   A typical bedroom inside the Hägersten migrant return centre in Sweden   
      
   A report released this year by the Swedish Central Bureau of Statistics   
   (SCB) forecasts that Sweden could finish 2024 with net emigration – a   
   sure sign that fewer would-be migrants see Sweden as an attractive   
   proposition.   
      
   However, opposition parties and mainstream media outlets have scoffed at   
   the statistics, describing them as a deliberate fudge.   
      
   ‘They went back through the statistics over 20 years, found lots of   
   people who had already left Sweden but were still registered and removed   
   them,’ claimed Anders Ygeman, a member of parliament for the Left-wing   
   Social Democrat opposition party. ‘No one except the government and the   
   Swedish Democrats recognise the net-emigration statistic,’ he told the Mail.   
      
   However, even Ygeman’s party recognises the need for stricter controls   
   on immigration: ‘After 2015 [when his party was in power] we   
   strengthened the asylum rules ourselves. We shifted Sweden’s immigration   
   policy. Although people might not have noticed it yet because it takes   
   time to see the results of political decisions.’   
      
   ‘We’ve all come to the same conclusion,’ Ygeman says of the cross-party   
   immigration consensus: ‘Albeit from different angles.’   
      
   Afghan asylum seeker Sayed Darab, 25   
   +   
   7   
   View gallery   
   Afghan asylum seeker Sayed Darab, 25   
      
   And it’s not just at home where Sweden’s anti-immigration consensus is   
   growing. Last week, Austria’s conservative Chancellor, Karl Nehammer,   
   described Sweden’s new migration policies as ‘inspiring,’ and invited   
   Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to Vienna for an exchange of ideas.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)