Ministry of Immigration and Integration: 2,597 foreigners were deported from Denmark last year for these reasons…
With the unofficial start of the parliamentary election season in Denmark, most political parties are vying to implement tangible and practical measures regarding immigration and refugees. This issue is among the most contentious in public discourse, fueled by politicians' largely negative statements, publications, and tweets about immigrants and refugees of non-Western origin, particularly Arabs and Muslims. This is despite the fact that Danish voters have other significant concerns, such as the economy, taxes, public services, and the environment. Amidst this, the Ministry for Immigration and Integration is actively promoting its achievements and policies for tightening laws. It is headed by a minister from the Social Democratic Party, appointed by party leader Mette Frederiksen—who also served two consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Denmark—in a cabinet reshuffle. The Social Democratic Party is known for its hardline stance on immigration and asylum, and thus it can compete with right-wing parties, from which over 50,000 voters defected to right-wing parties after the 2022 elections.
According to the ministry, the Danish Immigration Service deported approximately 2,600 foreigners from Denmark in 2025, due to reasons including deportation orders or rejected asylum applications. More than 13,000 deportations have been carried out in the past five years.
The ministry said in a statement that it is difficult to live illegally in Denmark, and Danish authorities work daily to deport foreigners who do not have legal residency in the country.
These efforts have borne fruit; in 2025, 2,597 people residing illegally in Denmark for various reasons were deported. The largest group among those deported were foreigners who had committed crimes in Denmark and were being deported by court order.
According to the statement, Minister for Immigration and Integration Rasmus Stocklund said: “Foreign criminals and illegal immigrants should not be in Denmark. They must return to their countries of origin. That is why I am very pleased that we deported thousands of foreigners from the country last year. Since the establishment of the Danish Deportation Agency in 2020, 13,746 foreigners who were residing in Denmark illegally have been deported. This is satisfactory,” said Rasmus Stocklund.
He adds: “Some parties in the Danish parliament promote the narrative that they never succeed in deporting anyone from Denmark. But the truth is that the Danish Deportation Agency does a great job of deporting foreigners who have no interest in Denmark. We in the government are very keen to deport more of them. That is why we introduced reforms to the deportation laws with the aim of getting rid of more criminal foreigners.”
The number of completed deportations in 2025 totaled 2,597 cases, of which 251 were based on the rejection of an asylum application, 1,080 were due to a criminal conviction or crime, 241 were related to unauthorized movement under the Dublin Agreement, and 949 people were deported on the basis of administrative expulsion.
The total number of reasons for deportation may not match the number of individuals, as a single person may have more than one reason for deportation. Only foreign nationals transferred under the Dublin Regulation are included in the “Dublin transfer” category; this means, for example, that a person convicted of a crime and transferred to Dublin is counted only in the “Dublin transfer” category.
