'Do you miss Mogadishu?' Sweden offers foreign-born residents $37,000 to leave

Sweden is offering foreign-born residents who have the right to live in the country $37,000 to return to their home nations as part of its crackdown on migration. The Scandinavian nation, once known for being particularly welcoming to asylum seekers, saw a 96% drop in refugee numbers between 2015 and 2020. Migration is expected to be a major issue in Sunday's general election, and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's center-right coalition hopes its tough stance on the issue will help them defeat the center-left opposition.

The government has allocated a budget of $135.6 million for the return scheme, which has already received support from the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party outside the government but with backing in parliament. The party has spent on bus ads advertising the scheme and is now pushing for it to be extended to immigrants with Swedish citizenship who would renounce their citizenship.

However, backlash against migration has been fueled by gang warfare between criminals from migrant families, particularly Kurds, leading Sweden from being one of Europe's safest countries to having one of its highest murder rates. Some, like imam Mahmoud Khalfi, believe the policy is divisive, causes anxiety among the Muslim population, and does not solve any problems.

The policy has also led to tighter rules for immigrants, including no longer awarding permanent residence permits and making them reapply after three years. However, the tightening of Sweden's migration policy has raised concerns in the healthcare sector, where a significant portion of specialist doctors and nursing assistants were born abroad.