Tag: Finnish immigration policy

Undocumented migrant: “I can never leave Finland. That’s a scary thought.”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When we imagine an undocumented migrant in Finland, we usually picture an Iraqi or Afghan asylum seeker. But what about if that undocumented migrant is an over-sixty-year-old white pensioner from North America?

Finland’s strict immigration laws, especially those tightened in 2016, have been at the center of growing questions and concern about their enforcement.

A group of researchers from Turku University, Åbo Akademi, and the Ombudsman for Equality, who published their findings last week, concluded that the rights and protection of asylum seekers in Finland had deteriorated significantly.

Finnish immigration law does not consider grandparents as part of the nuclear family. The pensioner in the picture is not related to Sheryl.

While the conclusions of this study shouldn’t surprise anyone, the number of undocumented migrants should. In April 2016, parliament voted in favor of scrapping residence permits on humanitarian grounds. Before scrapping the law, Finland’s undocumented migrant population grew from a few hundred to thousands.

One of the many criticisms of Finland’s tight immigration policy is that it doesn’t recognize grandparents as part of the nuclear family.

A few years ago, there were two high-profile cases in the Finnish media involving grandmothers. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) had tried to deport unsuccessfully three times a Russian citizen, Irina Antonova, who had suffered a stroke in Finland while visiting her daughter. Egyptian grandmother Eveline Fadayel was granted a residence permit after a lengthy battle with Migri officials.

Being white and undocumented

Sheryl*, who first moved to Finland to be with her daughter and grandchildren over ten years ago, admits that she can never leave Finland because she is an undocumented migrant. “I can never leave Finland,” she admitted. “That’s a scary thought.”

She said she was supposed to leave the country earlier this year, but decided to remain and become an undocumented migrant.

“I have nowhere to return to [in North America],” she continued. “My family and my life are in Finland.”

Continue reading “Undocumented migrant: “I can never leave Finland. That’s a scary thought.””

Welcome back to “safe” Iraq, let me slash you with a knife

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) continues to insist that countries like Iraq, where Finnish nationals are discouraged from visiting, is a safe country to deport people. Migri deports everyone they don’t give residence permits. You leave either “voluntarily” or by “force.”  

Iraq isn’t a safe country, and sensible people understand that Migri’s tough asylum policy hinges on the Blue Reform, formerly the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*.

Even if the PS split into two parties, both loathe asylum seekers from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.

Migrant Tales documented two cases last year of two Iraqi asylum seekers who faced violent deaths upon returning from Finland.

The latest story to reach us is of an Iraqi who was “deported voluntarily” to his home country two months ago and attacked by militias on Saturday.

The history of the Iraqi victim is very similar to the many thousands that fled to Finland in 2015.

A fellow asylum seeker from Iraq writes:

The asylum seeker, who alerted us, said that a car had followed him near his home with three people. They cut him with a knife and spared his life. “The next time we see you, we will kill you!” they warned.

Continue reading “Welcome back to “safe” Iraq, let me slash you with a knife”

A #righttolife demonstration starts in Oulu from March 11 and the reception has been very favorable

Posted on by Migrant Tales

As the #righttolife demonstration grows and becomes stronger at the Helsinki Railway Station, a group of Iraqis organized a similar demonstration in the northern Finnish city of Oulu on March 11, according to Ali Asaad Hasan.

 “To show our support for the people in Helsinki, we decided to start our own demonstration in Oulu,” said Hasan. “The people, especially the Lutheran church,  have supported us and been so good to us.”

The demonstrators in Oulu, which are mostly Iraqis with some Afghan, Somali and asylum seekers from other countries, hand out flyers and chat with people. They are also doing a video that they will soon publish.

“This demonstration means a lot to all of us and to me especially because we can tell people about the deportations and try to find ways to stop them by letting Finns know what is happening,” he said.

The support demonstration for the #righttolife demonstration in Helsinki began on March 11.

Hasan said that the Finns who have demonstrated with them have been a great help. If there are problems they usually step in and help calm the situation, according to him.

“We got a visit from the Soldiers of Odin on Friday,” he continued. “There were about 20 of them and they came with a big dog and stood a meter away from us with some covering their faces. The police came and nothing happened.”

The demonstrators in Oulu have received two visits from the Soldiers of Odin vigilante group. Twenty vigilante members appeared on Friday with a big dog to intimidate the group. The police arrived and the Finns taking part in the demonstration kept everything under control.

Continue reading “A #righttolife demonstration starts in Oulu from March 11 and the reception has been very favorable”

Day 25 of the Helsinki demonstration by asylum seekers: We are happy that you are a thorn in the government’s and Migri’s side

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Twenty-five cold days have elapsed since a group of asylum seekers decided to exercise their democratic rights and protest deportation and the government’s strict asylum policy.  The longer these demonstrators protest the deeper the thorn will penetrate the government’s and Finnish Immigration Service’s (Migri) side. 

The government’s and Migri’s tough stance against the demonstrators is and will turn against them. Why? Because they base their hardline strategy on their own prejudices and bigotry.

The asylum seekers must know that two mainstream parties, the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), have given a near-free hand to the Islamophobic and anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party to draft laws like that tightening of family reunification. They have also turned some of you  into undocumented migrants.

When I look at the actions of the government, my memory goes back to the early 1980s when Migri was run by Eila Kännö, a woman that some compared her management style to Benito Mussolini’s. The extremely strict immigration policy of Finland at the time was so much out of touch with public opinion that the then Aliens’ Office destroyed its credibility and eventually itself.

It became clear that the Aliens’ Office could no longer be run by a self-styled autocrat.

Continue reading “Day 25 of the Helsinki demonstration by asylum seekers: We are happy that you are a thorn in the government’s and Migri’s side”

What message does Finland want to send to Iraqi asylum seekers by deporting them to a country that it has no repatriation agreement?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The case of two young Iraqis, KM, and SH, who were detained by the police on Friday and who will apparently be deported from the country on Monday are a case in point. To KM and SH, there is another Iraqi national, AM, who will be deported together with KM and SH. All three are being held at the Helsinki detention camp of Metsälä. 

The police, who are carrying out these deportations, will not give for obvious reasons details on how they plan to deport Iraqi nationals who have gotten a negative decision on their asylum applications from the Finnish Immigration Service and district court.

Migrant Tales reported on Friday the detention of two young Iraqi asylum seekers that will be deported. Is this a scare tactic and a clear message by the authorities that they want these people to leave? We believe so. Read the full story here.

Here’s the question: How can Finland deport thousands of Iraqis from Finland if there is no repatriation agreement with Iraq?

The Iraqi Ambassador to Finland, Matheel Chayif Al-Sabti, spoke to Migrant Tales on Wednesday, was clear on the matter:

“The Iraqi government does not accept forced deportations [and] this is officially the position of the Iraqi government now because we know of the [difficult] situation in Iraq…So, now there is nothing that Finland can do to those [Iraqi] people.”

Iraqi Ambassador to FinlandMatheel Chayif Al-Sabti states that the Iraqi government doesn’t accept any forced deportations.

He said that Iraq would not grant permission to any special flight carrying deported Iraqis to land in the country because there is no repatriation agreement or memorandum of understanding with Finland on forcibly returning people to Iraq.

“So now you have to accept this idea [that there is no agreement],”  Al-Sabti continued. “I said it many times to Päivi Nerg, the deputy interior minister, I then said it to Hanna Helinko, the director general of the Finnish Immigration Service, and I said it at all of my meetings with the minister of foreign affairs [Timo Soini] that Iraq will not accept people who are deported.”

The ambassador said that Iraqis who came to Finland from fall 2015 should be accepted as guests taking into account the difficult situation in Iraq.

Al-Sabti went as far as to say that the Iraqi embassy would not even issue any laisse- fair travel documents to Iraqis who refuse to return to their country.

Migrant Tales will publish Thursday a more extensive interview with the Iraqi ambassador.

Continue reading “What message does Finland want to send to Iraqi asylum seekers by deporting them to a country that it has no repatriation agreement?”

Abuses at Luona’s asylum reception centers continue – two refugees tried to commit suicide

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The right-wing Finnish government, and especially the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, which shares power with the Center Party and National Coalition Party (NCP), have tried their hardest to find ways to deport some 20,000 of the 32, 476 asylum seekers that came to Finland in 2015.

The reception that these asylum seekers have gotten in Finland is not only shameful but has added to their suffering. Private companies like Luona, which runs eight reception centers in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Hyvinkää, and as Migrant Tales revealed in numerous stories, treat asylum seekers in a racist and inhumane manner.

Since there is some kind of a pattern, one wonders what type of silent complacency there is between the Finnish Immigration Service (FIS) and the government to turn a blind eye to such abuses.

Such degrading treatment, which is in conflict with our Nordic values, takes its toll on people like two cases that happened Friday.

One Afghani asylum seeker at Luona’s Kutomotie reception center yesterday evening tried to commit suicide by sliting his wrist. (The Kutomotie reception center will be closed in August by the Finnish Migration Service (FIS) due to deficiencies that came to light in February.) Two hours later another asylum seeker from Iraq at the same reception center tried to take his life by jumping out of the window.

According to reliable sources, both men wanted to take their lives because of the inhumane treatment they have suffered in Finland and “in particular by Luona.”

Fortunately, both asylum seekers were stopped in time and are no longer in harm’s away.

Continue reading “Abuses at Luona’s asylum reception centers continue – two refugees tried to commit suicide”

Is Finland swapping Nordic values like social equality for social inequality?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Social Democratic Party (SDP) MEP Liisa Jaakonsaari gives a good interview to Helsingin Sanomat about the government’s 80-point plan to tighten immigration policy that not only targets asylum seekers but impacts negatively the whole migrant and minority community of Finland. 

According to Jaakonsaari, 70 of the 80 points in the government’s plan has the stamp of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. If this is the case, no wonder Finland is having difficulty in focusing on more pressing matters like jump-starting economic growth and creating jobs.

Like the SDP MEP correctly pointed out, the big picture of the new policy is clear: Asylum seekers shouldn’t come to Finland because they’re not welcome.

Imagine, we already have an underclass of people in this country that are so disenfranchised that Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government can even propose, with a poker face, shelving indefinitely their basic civil and human rights. This is happening in a country that takes seriously human rights and brags about social equality.

Migrant Tales wrote recently:

The government now hopes with the 80-point plan to not only make life difficult for asylum seekers, and in turn for all migrants and minorities in this country, but introduce policy changes that are unconstitutional. PS Social Welfare Minister Hanna Mäntylä has been eager to lower subsidies to asylum seekers that get a residence permit.

Asylum-seekers, migrants, and minorities aren’t the only one’s feeling the brunt of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s government, which is comprised by the PS, Center Party and National Coalition Party. Finns who are pensioners, unemployed and rely on social welfare are the target of massive social welfare cuts that will make their lives harder.

Jaakonsaari said that giving a temporary residence permit to those that get asylum in Finland is a good example of PS anti-immigration ideology. Even if it wasn’t pointed out in the Helsingin Sanomat interview, the idea to offer temporary residence permits comes from Norway, where the anti-immigration populist Progress Party (FrP) shares power with Conservative Party (Høyre). 

The Finnish media hasn’t for some reason connect the dots, but nationalist-populist parties in the Nordic region are following each other’s anti-immigration rhetoric and policies on how to tighten and make life as hard as possible for asylum seekers and their respective migrant communities.

What’s the solution? There is none except that as long as the PS are in government, the anti-immigration climate in Finland will not improve but get worse. Hostility against migrants and cultural diversity is what makes the PS tick politically.

Don’t expect anything to improve in the short-run either.

Massive spending cuts by the government and tighter immigration policy will encourage migrants and refugees to compete and fight against each other and against poor Finns for ever-meager resources. But mark my words: The more space that is given to the PS politically the more hostility there will be against asylum seekers, migrants and our ever-culturally diverse society.

Na?ytto?kuva 2015-12-23 kello 9.02.19

Listen to full interview here.

Even if SDP leader Antti Rinne is quoted as saying that he backs and considers government plans to tighten immigration policy “a very good idea,” such a stance is a big mistake. We saw this type of mimicking of the PS in 2011 with poor consequences for the Social Democrats.

Continue reading “Is Finland swapping Nordic values like social equality for social inequality?”

Family reunification: Interior Ministry calls for comments

Posted on by JusticeDemon

The Finnish Ministry of the Interior recently published a working group report on the present state of family reunification of refugees and displaced persons in Finland. This report seeks to clarify the background to family reunification and to examine the prospects for amending the associated regulations.

The report was prepared in response to the programme of the Katainen government, which envisages harmonisation of family reunification practices in Finland with those of the other Nordic countries. The working group was an internal committee of civil servants from the Ministry’s Immigration Department.

There is nothing objectionable in principle about a closed ministerial committee preparing a preliminary factual review. However, this report also includes one very important “proposal” that is, to all intents and purposes, a policy recommendation. This is described in the abstract as follows:

Selvityksessä ehdotetaan, että asetetaan hanke ulkomaalaislain perhesidelupia koskevien säännösten muuttamiseksi tavoitteena Suomessa jo käytössä olevan toimeentuloedellytyksen laajentaminen koskemaan myös humanitaarista suojelua saavien perheen yhdistämistilanteita.

“The report proposes a project to amend the provisions of the Aliens Act governing permits issued on family grounds, with a view to extending the income condition already applied in Finland to include reunification of the families of recipients of humanitarian protection.”

This would scrap the exemption that humanitarian immigrants currently enjoy from the income condition that otherwise governs family reunification.

It is interesting that this exemption would nevertheless continue to apply to the families of citizens of Finland and other Nordic countries.

In concrete terms, and applying current rates, this means that a person displaced by civil war, for example, would have to demonstrate a net monthly income of EUR 1,530 to bring a spouse to Finland plus a further EUR 450 for each additional child. The national average monthly wage in Finland is currently just over EUR 3,000 before taxes and contributions.

The Interior Ministry has requested comments on the report by no later than 6 July 2012.

Vihrea Lanka: Amnesty: Persujen turvapaikkapolitiikka ei poikkea kolmen suuren linjasta

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Thanks to JusticeDemon’s critical eye he was able spot one of the snow jobs of the True Finns: Their campaign manifesto on immigration policy does not differ from the present law and, as the article below states, not even their refugee policy from the three major parties: Kokoomus, Center Party and Social Democrats.

So what gives?

I believe that their lust for power and the public spotlight are so insatiable that they are ready to turn their backs on voters immediately after April 17. Their campaign manifesto is a very incriminating piece of evidence. It is a prelude to what we will see.

Do you agree?

____________

Perussuomalaisten turvapaikkapolitiikka ei juuri poikkea kokoomuksen, keskustan ja sdp:n ulkomaalaispolitiikasta.

To keep on reading click here.

Helsinki Times: Eveline Fadayel dies

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: This is a tragic end to a long saga between the late Eveline Fedayel to remain in Finland with her son. After a number of applications to the Finnish Immigration Service, Fedayel whose illness was life-threatening was supposed to leave the county in June.  You can read more on the case by visiting Helsingin Sanomat.

In my opinion, this case is tragic and shows what happens when public servants become inflexible in a situation that requires a dose of common sense and compassion.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

______________

Eveline Fadayel, 65, an Egyptian woman who was granted a residence permit in Finland after a lengthy appeal process last month, died from a long-term illness early on Tuesday, the Finnish Ecumenical Council said.

Last year, the ailing woman’s battle to remain in the country to live with her sons in Vantaa triggered a debate about Finland’s residence permit legislation.

Eveline Fadayel (Photo Kimmo Mäntylä)

The Finnish Immigration Service’s decision to grant the residence permit came after the European Court of Human Rights condemned the Finnish authorities’ plans to remove Fadayel from the country.

STT