How Terror and Crime Made Sweden Reject Open Borders
It may come as a surprise for casual observers that Sweden now has one of the toughest governments in Europe against illegal immigration. Sweden is one of several European states beginning to see the light on the harms of its previous open-borders stance, and is moving to undo the economic and social harm caused by uncontrolled immigration. The main motive driving this has been national security, both in terms of terrorism and transnational organized crime gangs.
In 2018, ISIS-linked Uzbek illegal alien Rakhmat Akilov murdered five people and wounded 15 others in a truck-ramming attack on a Stockholm shopping street. The dead included 11-year-old Ebba Åkerlund, who was partly deaf and may not have been able to hear the truck that killed her. The terrorist had abused the asylum process to initially enter Sweden from an area of the world that is increasingly implicated in extremism, including the terrorists who carried out the recent Moscow attacks. Akilov crossed through multiple safe countries on his way to Sweden and despite being ordered to be deported was still allowed to roam free.
In addition to deadly terrorism, violent gang activity is now becoming the “new normal” in Sweden. Swedish cities have seen the formation of “no-go zones” where immigrants do not integrate and have formed hotbeds of crime and unrest. Serious organized gang violence has rocked the once-peaceful country. The gangs are usually Middle Eastern clans who do not hesitate to use violence or even target law enforcement. In 2021, a police officer was shot dead on patrol, the first police shooting in 14 years. Innocent people have been caught in the crossfire, such as a 12-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet during a gang-related drive-by shooting in 2020. This was just one of 163 shootings in the first six months of 2020, extraordinary in a small lightly-populated country where guns are strictly controlled. By 2022, this figure had risen to annual 391 shootings.
It is not just firearms the gangs use to terrorize Sweden. The gangs have also used bombings, which are exceptionally dangerous given their indiscriminate nature. Bombs are used to target the homes of rival gang members or their clan/family members. In 2022, there were 90 bombings and by late 2023, this number had reached 134 bombings. Sometimes these bombings even target the homes of law enforcement officers. This tendency to attack residential addresses is particularly callous, as many Swedes live in apartment buildings where the potential deadly risk for the uninvolved public is much higher. Sweden now has the dubious distinction of being one of the most bombed countries in the world not currently officially at war.
The Swedish public has finally drawn a line in the sand in response to this madness. Political parties that support immigration restrictions, such as the Sweden Democrats, have seen their votes surge and their seats in the Swedish Parliament leapt from 20 seats to 46, 62, and now 73 seats in the last four consecutive national elections. Sweden’s center-right government has now stated it will not accept ISIS-linked nationals back into Sweden. It has also reinforced deportation efforts, which has included cooperation with other Nordic states. Sweden has toughened the criteria for Swedish citizenship, a welcome move given Swedish passport holders can use the ESTA program to visit the U.S.
Some Americans once pointed to Sweden as a model of the “benefits” of unconditional openness to mass migration. As Sweden begins to feel the pain of open-borders through collapsing public safety and hurriedly tries to restore some semblance of order, these same Americans might perhaps review their stance. The problems that made Sweden pull back on, open borders like terrorism and crime caused by illegal immigration, also damage America.