"This is a clear message about where we want to draw the line," the TT newswire quoted Niels Paarup-Petersen, the Centre Party's spokesperson on migration policy, as saying, following a meeting of parliament's social insurance committee, which handles immigration matters, on Thursday.
The halt on deportations is intended to apply to individuals who previously lived in Sweden legally alongside their families and still maintain family ties to Sweden, but who received a rejection on their residence permit application on or after July 20th, 2021. It will not apply to people who have gone into hiding or avoided contact with the authorities. Applicants will also be required to have an ongoing family connection in Sweden.
The legislation will not block deportation orders issued on the grounds of criminal offences or national security, nor will it cover individuals who have been formally found to lead an unrespectable or dishonest lifestyle.
Those covered by the emergency law will be granted a 13-month temporary residence permit.
However, it remains unclear whether the Swedish Migration Agency will temporarily pause deportations while waiting for the legislation to take effect.
During the previous parliamentary term, the agency paused the execution of deportation orders for a specific group of young adults when new legislation was announced.
"There are no regulations dictating that a director-general must act in a specific way; it was purely out of goodwill that I made the decision to hold off last time. So now we will have to consider how to handle things this time around," Maria Mindhammar, director-general of the Migration Agency, told TT.