STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Sweden has deported several Somali nationals and is preparing to expel more under its most restrictive immigration policy in decades, triggering alarm within the Somali community, whose leaders warn that the returnees face grave dangers in their homeland.
At least eight Somalis have been deported in recent weeks, with another 15 currently held in detention centers awaiting removal, according to Yoonis Khaliif, a representative of the Somali Community Association in Sweden.
The deportations mark a significant policy shift under the current government, affecting asylum seekers and long-term residents alike.
“This is something the new government has been working on for a long time,” Khaliif told the media. He explained that those targeted include individuals who have been denied extensions on their residency permits, as well as asylum seekers who have been waiting for decisions for between three and ten years.
“Among them are elderly people, children, and young adults, many of whom are working and paying taxes, who are now losing their right to stay in the country,” Khaliif added.
Community leaders are urgently seeking dialogue, with a meeting planned this week with the Somali embassy in Stockholm to address the escalating situation.
The crackdown is a direct result of a political sea-change in Sweden. Since Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s center-right coalition government took office in 2022, it has governed with the parliamentary support of the nationalist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
This alliance was cemented in the Tidö Agreement, a political pact that explicitly calls for a “paradigm shift” in Swedish immigration policy to be the strictest in the European Union.
The effects have been stark. According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the number of asylum seekers granted residency has plummeted. The government has defended the stringent measures as necessary to handle “budgetary challenges,” a justification that critics and community leaders reject.
Khaliif argues that economic reasons “cannot be an excuse to deport people who have lived here for a long time and contributed to society.”
‘Returning to danger’
The central fear for community advocates is the perilous situation awaiting deportees in Somalia. The country continues to grapple with profound instability, armed conflict, and a dire humanitarian crisis.
According to a May 2025 operational update from the UNHCR, the security situation in Somalia remains “tense, marked by ongoing military operations, clan conflicts, and localized civil unrest.”
The militant group Al-Shabaab remains a potent threat, particularly in southern and central Somalia, where it continues to launch attacks and control territory. Community leaders fear that young people deported from Sweden are especially vulnerable to forced recruitment by such groups.
“There is no political stability, and extremist groups are capturing more territory,“ said Khaliif. “The youth who are sent back become vulnerable, especially with no jobs available. These are people who crossed the desert and found safety here, but are now being returned to the problems they fled.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that nearly 6 million people in Somalia will require humanitarian assistance in 2025, with millions facing acute food insecurity.
The deportations have sent a shockwave through the Somali diaspora in Sweden, one of the country’s larger immigrant communities, many of whom fled the Somali Civil War that began in the early 1990s.
While Khaliif noted that previous Swedish administrations were more open to dialogue on community concerns, he described the current government’s stance as unyielding.
The community’s focus is now on persuading both Swedish and Somali authorities to reconsider the deportations, emphasizing the moral and humanitarian implications of the policy.
“It is imperative that the Somali government seriously considers this matter,“ Khaliif urged, highlighting the responsibility to protect its citizens from being returned to a volatile and dangerous environment.