Denmark and four other EU countries plan to open a return center outside the EU, and the first group sent there will be around 100 rejected asylum seekers, not convicted foreign criminals.
Immigration and Integration Minister Morten Bødskov of the Social Democrats said on September 4 that a return center outside the EU is closer than ever. DR reports that rejected asylum seekers will be the first group transferred.
According to Bødskov, the group involved counts about 100 people. Foreign nationals with deportation sentences, including those living at Udrejsecenter Kærshovedgård near Bording in Central Jutland, will not be included for now.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen of the Moderates described the step as only a beginning. He compared the task to eating an elephant, saying it has to be cut into slices.
Political criticism
Dennis Flydtkjær, immigration spokesperson for Danmarksdemokraterne, called the decision disappointing and a failure toward residents living near Kærshovedgård. He said the criminals pose the biggest threat and that people in the area live with insecurity.
Flydtkjær also said it is embarrassing that the Social Democrats have promised a return center outside the EU and the closure of Kærshovedgård since 2019. Mikkel Bjørn, immigration and integration spokesperson for the Danish People’s Party, said successive governments have indicated for years that they were working on both a reception center and a return center, and that neither appears to exist.
Bødskov and Løkke Rasmussen met on September 4 with ministers from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The five countries take part in a cooperation aimed at finding a joint solution on asylum. According to the group, the new center outside the EU should be ready during next year, so the first rejected asylum seekers can be sent in the course of 2027.
No host country has been named yet. Bødskov said that work is under way and that the five countries expect to present the country around New Year. Denmark expects an agreement with a partner country outside the EU by then.
At the Copenhagen meeting, the ministers agreed on principles for future return centers, including that they must be a joint European project and comply with EU rules. Kærshovedgård has been the focus of local protests from residents, who have organized in the Facebook group Sæt lås på Kærshovedgård.
The government maintains that removing deportation-sentenced criminals remains its ambition. For now, they will stay in Denmark while the rejected asylum seekers are prepared for transfer. Related measures targeting undocumented immigrants have been discussed separately.
