What could possibly go wrong? Celebrate diversity!
“Officials opted out of extra criminality checks on new citizens,” translated from “Embedsmænd fravalgte ekstratjek af kriminalitet hos nye statsborgere,” Ekstra Bladet, May 5, 2023 (thanks to L.):
Since January 2021, no extra check has been made to see if the persons who have been granted Danish citizenship have committed a crime prior to applying for citizenship.
This is what Minister for Immigration and Integration Kaare Dybvad Bek (S) writes in a letter to the Parliament’s immigration committee.
In the letter, the minister harshly criticizes the Immigration Office, which has opted out of doing the supplementary crime checks that must be done two years after applicants have been granted citizenship.
“I deeply regret the failure to carry out the supplementary crime checks,” writes Kaare Dybvad Bek in the letter.
“I take the matter very seriously, and I have therefore requested the Ministry of Immigration and Integration to arrange for the supplementary crime checks to be given high priority.”
It was with the citizenship agreement from 2018 that the then Left-led government together with the Danish People’s Party and the Social Democracy agreed to introduce the supplementary check.
It is for the purpose of assessing whether there is a basis for initiating a case to withdraw citizenship.
The minister was informed on 2 May this year that they have not been carried out for a good two years.
Kaare Dybvad Bek writes in the letter that this is because the Immigration Office itself has prioritized other tasks.
“It is deeply regrettable, and I have therefore emphasized that if such prioritization is to be made, it belongs on the minister’s table,” writes the minister.
At the latest review in January 2021, 1,255 people were checked for crimes they had not disclosed.
As a result, the police were asked to investigate two cases. Kaare Dybvad Bek states in the letter that the two cases have not yet been followed up.
The Danish People’s Party’s immigration rights rapporteur, Mikkel Bjørn, who is also chairman of the Danish Parliament’s immigration rights committee, is upset by the information and will call the minister for consultation.
He believes that it is a fundamental breach of trust in the officials and in the system.
“The whole prerequisite for us to be able to sit and award citizenships in the Folketing is an expectation that the information that the applicants provide is actually correct,” says Mikkel Bjørn.
“That is why trust in officials and in the system is absolutely essential, and that trust has been broken in this case, to put it mildly.”
The Danish Democrats call it “a huge scandal” and, like the DF, summon the minister to a consultation.
“The minister will have to get a handle on this,” says immigration commissioner Peter Skaarup (DD).
The Conservatives were part of the government when it was agreed to do double checks.
“I simply think that it is deeply serious. As politicians, we must be able to trust that when we enter into political agreements, they will be implemented. And that hasn’t happened here,” says immigration law rapporteur Brigitte Klintskov Jerkel (K).
“It is of course the minister’s responsibility to ensure that the political agreements are followed up. I’m actually quite shaken and I’m also angry.”
Kaare Dybvad Bek has not signed up for an interview with Ritzau.
But in a written response, the minister emphasizes that everyone who has applied for and received citizenship has been criminally checked, and that this has been checked after two years, which has not been done.
He also says that he has emphasized to the civil service that the missing crime checks must be done within the next two months.
Emmanuel says
It is the same old story of rewarding the criminals and punishing the innocents:
The King of Danmark during WW2, King Christian the 10th said this concerning the Jews of Danmark;
“we protect the Jews not because we like them, but rather in order to protect our democracy and freedom.”
Christianity means freedom! Jesus Christ once said, “If the Son sets you free thou shalt be free indeed.”
Now, who is there to protect Christianity in Danmark, and honour King Christian 10?
Emmanuel says
Christian IX was King of Danmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906.