Iran Spy Scandal: Sweden Democrats Want Only Citizens at the Migration Agency

STOCKHOLM - A manager at the Swedish Migration Agency has been suspended and reported to police on suspicion of snooping in classified registers. Now the Sweden Democrats want the entire agency overhauled - and every single employee to be a Swedish citizen.

The manager has links to a case officer who was fired after handing information to Iranian intelligence agents.

The demand comes from Jessica Stegrud, the party's migration policy spokesperson since the election, in an op-ed in the tabloid Aftonbladet.

She says the revelations about the manager should set off every alarm bell, because the agency handles information that can directly affect national security.

"That the agency is repeatedly associated with suspicions of infiltration and serious security failures is completely unacceptable," Stegrud writes.

It is at the Migration Agency, she points out, that Sweden decides who gets to stay, who gets to work and who becomes a citizen.

READ MORE: Iran Spy Leak Widens - Migration Agency Manager Suspended

"A large number of unauthorised searches"

Swedish broadcaster TV4 Nyheterna revealed on Sunday that the suspended manager is under police investigation. The manager is suspected of computer intrusion after making "a large number of unauthorised searches" in classified registers.

The suspicions surfaced in an internal check after the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) raised the alarm about the case officer. The manager then lost their security clearance and was suspended with immediate effect.

Internal agency documents call the conduct "very serious". The agency declines to comment, citing an ongoing personnel matter and a confidential preliminary investigation.

Prosecutors have also refused to say anything about the link to the case officer. No one has been convicted, and the manager is only a suspect.

Spy contacts and sold permits

The case officer was fired in February 2025. According to the Security Service's investigation, he had thousands of contacts with an Iranian agent and leaked information from the agency's secret registers, including details about Iranian exiles. He denies the allegations.

Stegrud also recalls that in 2024 another case officer was suspected of selling residence and work permits. An internal review found that permits had been wrongly granted in seven out of eight cases examined.

She also cites the Swedish National Audit Office, which found that applicants had been unable to prove their identity in almost a third of approved citizenship applications.

READ MORE: Swedish Migration Agency Dismisses Whistleblowers and Blocks External Inquiry

Citizenship for every employee

Already today, people without Swedish citizenship are not allowed to make decisions in citizenship cases. According to the Sweden Democrats, that is not enough.

"The Sweden Democrats therefore believe that the requirement for Swedish citizenship should cover all positions at the Migration Agency," Stegrud writes.

She also wants the agency's organisation, leadership, security routines and recruitment reviewed and rebuilt, with tougher security vetting and closer follow-up of decisions.

Speaking to the magazine Kvartal on Monday, Stegrud went further and said she is open to requiring that certain officials at the agency be born in Sweden.

"Through repeated revelations, the Migration Agency has given far too many reasons to question this," she writes about public trust in the agency.