Denmark can't seem to legally ditch its most "unwanted" migrants. So it's settling for pushing them onto a tiny, remote island currently used for researching and then cremating diseased animals.
The country's government and Danish People's Party, both on the political right, announced a new purpose for the 17-acre Lindholm Island on Friday. It'll be the new home of up to 100 "foreigners who have been convicted of crimes and rejected asylum seekers" who legally can't return home, The New York Times writes.
The island is currently used for "researching contagious animal diseases" and "lies about two miles from the nearest shore," the Times writes. Two intentionally "cumbersome and expensive" ferries — one of which is literally called "Virus" — will operate to and from the mainland infrequently throughout the day. But migrants "must stay at the departure center at night," Denmark's finance minister said, per Danish paper The Local. He then insisted migrants "will not be imprisoned," just monitored by police "around the clock." The People's Party also tweeted out this cute animation showing where migrants will go "until we can get rid of them."
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If those details didn't make it clear enough how Denmark's government feels about its migrants, the country's immigration minister spelled it out: "They are unwanted in Denmark, and they will feel that," she wrote on Facebook. The government has vowed to push the limits of international human rights laws. Left-wing politicians and former immigration officials decried the move. Read more at The New York Times.
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