The debate about migration in Sweden is characterized by generalizations and scare tactics
More than 60 percent of Swedes believe that politicians too often generalize about people with a foreign background, according to a new survey from Järvaveckan Research and Indikator Opinion.
Quick Look
- The Swedish migration debate is characterized by politicians drifting between talking about immigrants in general and criminals, which is perceived as generalization by over 60 percent of Swedes.
- Despite attempts at integration policy by both the government and the opposition, the discussion gets bogged down in problems and scare tactics, while the Sweden Democrats advocate zero investment in integration and mass deportations.
- Voters are tired of doomsday prophecies and demand solutions instead of conflict-inducing rhetoric.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
In recent years, the Swedish migration debate has been increasingly characterized by polarizing rhetoric where immigrants are often equated with crime. Despite various proposals for integration measures from government parties, the discussion has become stuck in conflicts over measures rather than solutions.
A typical scene for how the recent years' debate around migration has played out took place in 2024. Then-minister for migration Maria Malmer Stenergard (M), today's minister for foreign affairs, then celebrated that people from Iraq, Somalia and Syria were leaving Sweden. It was like saying: We don't want you with these backgrounds here.
Politicians have become accustomed to speaking in a way that slips treacherously between immigrants in general and criminals. Ebba Busch (KD) has used terms such as "keeping the package away". The Sweden Democrats' Youth Association wants a Swedish ICE - the migration police in the US, which deports people and has shot several citizens.
A rawness creeps into the conversation about people who have fled.
Voters are not impressed. A new survey from Järvaveckan Research and Indikator Opinion shows that more than 60 percent of Swedes believe that politicians generalize too often about people with a foreign background (DN Debatt 29/8).
This has spilled over into the integration issue, and not just from the Tidö parties. When the teenage deportations (which are still ongoing) were at the top of the agenda at the beginning of the year, the Social Democrats' first reaction was to say no to stopping them - because Sweden had an "integration debt". Was the idea that integrated young adults would pay that debt by being thrown out of the country?
Three quarters of Swedes believe that politicians focus more on problems than solutions in the integration issue. A majority of SD's voters also agree.
The survey mentioned above shows that people are tired of doomsday prophecies. Three quarters of Swedes believe that politicians focus more on problems than solutions in the integration issue. A majority of SD's voters also agree.
Is it that weird? Instead of competing with the best integration policy, the issue has become a bat to try to scare voters.
When the Social Democrats adopted new policies last year to try to build more mixed forms of housing in municipalities, and thereby reduce segregation, the Moderates came out and called it "forced mixing".
The Social Democrats then downplayed the issue.
When a group led by Migration Minister Johan Forssell (M) produced new integration proposals for the Moderates, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson (M) went out and saw off the proposal for integration zones with reduced taxes.
The result is that the political debate, instead of dealing with different solutions to segregation, gets stuck in problems and scare tactics.
It's a shame, the question is difficult and would require several angles of attack. The housing policy will certainly have to be an ingredient.
The Sweden Democrats, on the other hand, have a clear picture of what they have in mind. Jimmie Åkesson wants to "put exactly zero kroner on integration, thereby consolidating segregation until he succeeds in deporting more people. After the election, SD wants to tear up already granted permanent residence permits for up to hundreds of thousands of people.
In the absence of an active integration policy, this will be the answer for the Tidö parties if they win the election. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) has actually already promised it: according to him, SD should not only get ministerial posts, but responsibility for migration and integration policy.
Read more:
DN's editorial board: In what world do Kristersson and Andersson actually live?
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
The Sweden Democrats will demand responsibility for migration and integration policy if they increase their influence in the government after the next election.
Likely · Within months
The debate on integration will continue to focus on problems rather than solutions as long as scare tactics are used to win voter support.
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- Will the Sweden Democrats get responsibility for migration and integration policy if they strengthen their influence after the next election?
- How will the housing policy be used as a tool to reduce segregation without being perceived as coercion?
- What concrete measures are proposed to break the negative spiral in the migration debate?
