Photographer: John Thys / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: John Thys / AFP / Getty Images
The woman behind Denmark’s toughest immigration laws will be the country’s first policy to defend itself in an impeachment trial in nearly three decades, after its actions led to the illegal separation of young refugee couples.
Inger Stojberg, a former immigration minister who was recently forced to resign as deputy leader of Denmark’s main opposition party, will face trial after a majority in parliament has declared his support for impeachment. With the next final vote largely a formality, it is the first time that the chamber has agreed to pursue an impeachment process since 1993.
Stojberg gained notoriety under the previous government after she wrote some of the European Union’s most stringent immigration and asylum laws. She is perhaps best known outside Denmark for insisting that refugees hand over their valuables, including jewelry, when seeking asylum. But it was Stojberg’s harsh family reunification policies that drew harsh criticism from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, among other groups.
The impeachment trial will focus on Stojberg’s 2016 statement that refugee couples be separated on arrival if the woman is under 18. The order ignored the requirements for conducting individual assessments and was considered illegal by parliament’s ombudsman after a young Syrian couple complained. Subsequently, it turned out that Stojberg lied to the camera when he was called in to explain his decision.
The impeachment trial follows an investigation that identified Stojberg as the sole minister responsible for the allegedly illegal instruction. Former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has been exonerated from irregularities.
Stojberg argued that his decision to separate couples was based on a desire to protect girls from being forced to marry before they became adults. In all, 23 couples were separated because of their request. Age differences between men and women ranged from 16 years to just one year.
In Denmark, an impeachment trial can only be carried out by parliament or the monarch. After the legislature agrees that such a judgment is appropriate, the case goes to the Kingdom of Denmark’s Impeachment Court, which is made up of Supreme Court judges and experts appointed by parliament.
The decision was a rare demonstration of unity between the party lines, even with Stojberg’s own party, the liberals, supporting the impeachment.
“I’m a little disappointed that my own president invited the rest of parliament to start an impeachment trial against me,” Stojberg told reporters in parliament after the party’s decision. “It is the biggest vote of no confidence that I can receive from my own president.”
The last politician to be impeached was Erik Ninn-Hansen, a former justice minister who was found guilty in 1995. He was sentenced to four months in prison suspended for his role in preventing Tamil refugees from illegally entering Denmark. The scandal ended up overthrowing the conservative government of the time.
(Updates with comments in the penultimate paragraph)