Swiss justice minister defends asylum policy

Federal Councillor Beat Jans defends Swiss asylum policy Keystone-SDA

Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans has rejected criticism of Switzerland’s asylum policy. In an interview, he said Switzerland was doing well compared with other European countries.

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The number of asylum applications had fallen, there were fewer pending cases and more rejected asylum-seekers were returning to their countries, Jans told the Tamedia newspapers. The new 24-hour procedure was working and the security situation in the asylum centers had also improved, he said. In addition, Switzerland had only half as many cases of people being apprehended at the border as in the previous year.

+ Asylum in Switzerland

Jans also commented on the latest developments in asylum policy in European countries. According to Tamedia, a hectic pace has broken out there. He emphasised how delicate certain projects could be and cited Italy as an example. The government there wanted to carry out asylum procedures in Albania, but was turned down by a court in Rome.

Criticism of new head of SEM

Jans also defended the choice of the new head of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) in the interview. He was convinced that he had the right man at the helm in Vincenzo Mascioli.

Mascioli’s nomination for the post had been sharply criticised by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party and the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party in recent weeks. “The choice of Mascioli is the wrong choice,” explained People’s Party spokesperson Andrea Sommer at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Mascioli has been responsible for Switzerland’s repatriation policy as SEM deputy director for several years. During this time, the number of returns had fallen instead of rising, Sommer said.

+ Swiss asylum-seeker numbers sinking – including Ukrainians

The current asylum policy is not in the interests of the Swiss population, she added. There is an urgent need for more stringent measures in the area of asylum, for example “against the rampant asylum abuse and exploding asylum-related crime”.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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