"Thanks, but no thanks," Jokkmokk Municipality replied when the government's national coordinator for voluntary repatriation, Teresa Zetterblad, wanted to book a meeting for cooperation on repatriation earlier this fall. Jokkmokk needs its residents and the government's policy is un-Swedish, it added.
The response went viral and a number of municipalities followed in Jokkmokk's footsteps. This prompted Ludvig Aspling, migration policy spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party, to strongly criticize the municipality.
"Jokkmokk is totally dependent on support from the state. Why should the state help a municipality that clearly does not want any cooperation? Moreover, based on pure ignorance of who the grant is for. The purpose is to arrange a way home for immigrants who are specifically NOT contributing," he wrote on X.
The move, in turn, caused the people of Jokkmokk to turn against the local representatives of the SD, and the party's branch in Jokkmokk is now being closed down.
There will be no one who votes for the Sweden Democrats in Jokkmokk after this, says Mats Tikka to SVT.
