Foreign criminals in Denmark refusing to sign deportation papers

Foreign-born criminals on tolerated-stay are proving impossible to deport

Shifa Rahaman

Extra Bladet reported on Wednesday that Denmark is having enormous difficulties deporting its foreign-born criminals, some of whom are refusing to sign the necessary paperwork.

Harder to tolerate
The issue of tolerated-stay – where some foreigners who are denied Danish residency are allowed to stay in the country because they face the threat of torture or execution if sent back home – has now further complicated matters regarding foreign criminals up for deportation.

Extra Bladet reported that the national police has 120 criminals who are living in Denmark on conditions similar to tolerated stay – and that they are having enormous difficulties sending them back to their country of origin even if there is no indication they will be tortured or executed on their return.

Refusing to sign paperwork
Some criminals are complicating matters further by refusing to sign their deportation papers.

This poses a problem because some countries, including Iran, Iraq and Somalia, only receive deportees that can document they returned voluntarily, and therefore require that the papers be signed as proof.

Whip or Carrot
Assistant Professor Henning Bang Fuglsang Madsen Sørensen, from the legal department at SDU, says that Denmark needs to be more effective in persuading the criminals’ countries of origin to accept their citizens.

“If Denmark wants these countries to take their own criminal nationals back, then it can use either the carrot or the whip. The whip may well be, for example, that you make cuts to their development aid, and the carrot may be to offer the countries more assistance,” he said.

Deeply offensive
Peter Skaarup, from DF, is very unhappy with the situation.

“I think it is deeply offensive to the sense of justice that we have such a large group walking around freely, who are liable to committing new crimes at any time,” he said.

He is also upset that the figures weren’t released earlier.

“We in the Danish Parliament were never told that in addition to the group of just over 60, another group, that should in fact be deported to their country of origin, is also in Denmark on a kind of tolerated-stay,” he told TV2.

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