Ekeroth: "The Scandal at the Migration Agency Must Lead to Consequences"

EDITORIAL • I have said it so many times before — the Migration Agency is an authority at war with its own people. The scandal that the authority is now working overtime to push out as many citizenships as possible before the new law is in place is just further proof of this — and should result in the dismissal of Director General Maria Mindhammar.

The center-right parties, those that remain — that is, the Moderates, Christian Democrats, and Liberals — have a curious view of wielding power. It is not the first time they have appointed, or retained, agency directors contrary to what should be in their own interest. For example, Mari Heidenborg was appointed by the Tidö government. Regular readers of Samnytt should be aware of this.

Earlier, I wrote that the government should have fired the head of Brå, Jonas Trolle after he openly backed a Social Democratic proposal for forced population mixing in housing areas. He is still in his position. The list of people who either remain despite deserving to be dismissed, or have even been appointed by the Tidö government despite obviously wanting to counteract the policy that Tidö was elected to pursue, is presumably still far too long.

When a new Director General for the Migration Agency was to be appointed, I applied, which drew attention. I wrote then:

First, because I was one of the first in this country, long ago, to want to see a “paradigm shift” in migration policy. There’s hardly anyone more motivated than I am for this to happen.

Second, a new Director General will have to dare to make the tough decisions necessary for change and to do so immediately. There can be no doubt that I have proven that I dare to do what I say and say what I think. This will be needed to tackle cronyism, corruption, escalating costs, activists, and much more in this dysfunctional authority.

Third, I am not affected by media pressure in the same way as most people. My opinions remain firm, and so will the necessary authority decisions. The ability to withstand media pressure is, I think, an important part of being Director General.

Maria Mindhammar

Not surprisingly, it was not me, but Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) who said then that they wanted someone with “significantly more experience.” They instead chose Maria Mindhammar.

So, who is Maria Mindhammar? She has what one might call a “solid” background with a law degree, followed by judicial clerkship and a position as an assistant judge. She then served at the National Agency for Education, the Enforcement Authority, and the Swedish Tax Agency. In 2017, Mindhammar became deputy director general at the Employment Agency and was promoted to director general in December 2019. Four years ago, she took over the Migration Agency.

Based on my research, however, she is something as rare as a truly apolitical civil servant. Unlike many, she does not seem to have politicized her position. I can find no statements supporting mass immigration, feminism, criticism of Tidö, the Sweden Democrats, or similar.

She often emphasizes that a civil servant should not be an activist, but loyal to the political mandate. In interviews (such as with DN 2023) she says she approaches her work with an open mind and focuses on implementing the “paradigm shift” in migration policy according to the Tidö Agreement. She has avoided commenting on specific controversial proposals such as reporting obligations for the undocumented.

She is a lawyer by training, which nowadays may be somewhat concerning, but on the other hand, she completed her education long ago. The conclusion is that, neither on paper nor in action, does she seem inappropriate in the position.

If one were to name something, she is a member of the network Hilda, the Expo-linked power network we have reported on before. Hilda, started by the former secretary general of the Swedish Bar Association Anne Ramberg, now chairwoman of the far-left Expo Foundation, has since its inception aimed to “highlight” more women judges and lawyers.

ALSO READ: Here are the members of the Expo-linked power network Hilda

The Scandal is a Fact

But then we read about how the Migration Agency decided to work overtime to push out citizenship decisions after the new law passed, as Verifiera first revealed. Samnytt followed up with an interview with an anonymous employee at the authority.

Ludvig Aspling, the Sweden Democrats’ spokesperson on migration policy, asked the question on X:

If this is true, then the agency has deviated from the normal work order specifically to counteract the government’s objective regarding the effect of the new rules, and is also acting directly in conflict with its mandate from February. Who made this decision MariaMindhammar?

It is hardly possible to overlook the fact that the Director General must have approved this. Otherwise, how could such overtime be implemented? Samnytt has chased the authority for answers from Mindhammar — but the only thing we had confirmed was that overtime has been introduced, though they downplayed its significance.

But it is hardly a coincidence that the number of resolved citizenship cases increased by around 17 percent per month during the first quarter of this year.

So far, I have not heard much from the Sweden Democrats except for Aspling’s post on X. The information should, however, result in an immediate and thorough investigation to determine if this is true. And if it is true — even partially — it should be immediate grounds for dismissing the current Director General, who would, in such a case, be at war with her own superiors in the Tidö government.

So, Sweden Democrats and Tidö — what’s happening with the case?

ALSO READ: Ekeroth: Stop Handing out Swedish Citizenship — Make it a Privilege Again