The Sweden Democrats (SD) are pushing for a total stop to immigration—at least from certain regions—ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections.
In an op-ed published in Svenska Dagbladet, party leader Jimmie Åkesson and migration spokesman Ludvig Aspling called for Sweden to suspend its regular immigration laws and pause migration from Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, with only a few exceptions. They argue that national security must take precedence, even if that means challenging longstanding asylum protections.
The pair cited the sharp rise in gang-related violence in Sweden, with criminal networks increasingly infiltrating society and even recruiting children. They believe this qualifies as the kind of crisis that should allow the government to override standard immigration law—something that was possible until legal changes in 1976 limited such measures to wartime scenarios. SD now wants that emergency clause reinstated.
While the current center-right government—propped up by the Sweden Democrats—has already tightened immigration policy to the EU’s minimum requirements and made deportations easier, the party says that’s not enough. They argue the real issue is that EU regulations prevent member states from controlling how many asylum seekers they admit.
“We see it as completely obvious that migration from certain countries poses a direct threat to national security, even here in our own country,” the Sweden Democrats wrote. “It is time for Sweden to start adapting its actions to reality and stop treating EU regulations as if they were Swedish law.”
The party is also calling for the deportation of roughly 6,000 known gang-affiliated individuals and hinted that “unconventional methods” might be necessary to deal with the situation.
