Helsinki and other leftist-run cities in Finland have proposed to become ‘sanctuary cities’ for illegal migrants as the country’s right-wing government brings new laws to curb immigration. These cities will provide free services to illegal immigrants and shield them from deportation, news reports suggest.
In June, Finland elected a four-party coalition government, including the right-wing Finns Party, which came to power on the promise of stopping illegal migrants from swarming the Scandinavian country.
The move to make the country’s capital Helsinki a ‘sanctuary city’ comes in response to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government’s decision to deport immigrants who are unemployed and depend on social welfare. The proposed amendment to the immigration law will roll back the provisions to provide social benefits to people who are illegally in the country.
The French TV network Euronews reported:
Helsinki could become a ‘sanctuary city’, as the new right-wing government continues to crack down on undocumented migrants.The latest move by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s coalition government, which includes the far-right anti-immigrant Finns Party, would roll back legislation brought in at the start of the year by ex-PM Sanna Marin, which required local authorities to provide free basic healthcare for paperless migrants wherever they are in the country.Now, the new government is set to undo that law, leaving cities to decide whether to continue on their own treating migrants who don’t have a legal right to be in the country and access the public healthcare system.It’s part of a new package of measures aimed at creating a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants, including cutting access to social services and benefits, and exploring the possibility of deport them to a third country if they cannot go back to their home country. (…)At Helsinki City Hall the move to continue providing free services could put the administration on a collision course with the national government. Both the Mayor of Helsinki, and deputy mayor in charge of healthcare, come from Prime Minister Orpo’s National Coalition Party – known locally as Kokoomus – and they’re now marching out of step with the PM’s wishes on this issue.
Unregulated immigration not only strains the country’s welfare system, it has also led to a surge in gang-related crimes on the streets of Finland, the ruling right-wing coalition believes. The government “plans to crack down on street gangs, aiming to increase penalties for gang activity and introduce new legislation that makes street gang activity a separate aggravating offence,” the TV channel France24 noted.
Neighboring Sweden has seen a surge in imported crime wave, with parts of its migrant-dominated areas turning into no-go-zones for ordinary Swedes and law enforcement. Many Finns fear that they, too, will lose control over their streets as illegal migrants keep pouring into the country. “The Finns have been warning for years that by repeating Sweden’s mistakes in immigration policy, Finland will get Sweden’s problems,” Mari Rantanen, a lawmaker of the Finns party (PS), warned earlier this year.
Finland’s government pushes back against mass-migration as the European Union is working on a new ‘Migration Pact’ which includes possible migrant quotas for settling refugees, mostly men from Muslim-majority North Africa and the Middle East, to resettle in European countries regardless of the wishes of the native population or their elected governments. “If a country refuses to accept a quota, the proposal states that they must pay around EUR 22,000 for each person they refuse to accept,” Polish state TV Telewizja Polska reported in June.
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