The sound began at 5:00 a.m. On February 26: loud, rhythmic pounding on a bedroom door. For four-year-old Elias and his mother, Marta, the noise signaled the start of a terrifying sequence of events that would see them dragged from their home in a residential industrial area of Märsta, north of Stockholm, and driven to the gates of Arlanda Airport.
The operation was a “dawn raid” carried out by officers from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården), acting on behalf of the border police to execute a deportation order. According to Marta, the officers stormed into the room in the dark, ordering her to pack and dress immediately. While Elias was told they were going to fly, Marta describes a scene of confusion and fear, claiming she was pushed into a bathroom and pressed against a sink while she screamed for support.
This ordeal was not a one-time event, but the beginning of a month-long cycle of attempted removals. The case of Marta and Elias highlights the stark friction between Sweden’s strict migration enforcement and the psychological toll such operations accept on young children, particularly when the destination is a country currently flagged as unsafe by the state’s own diplomatic channels.
Two Failed Departures
The first attempt to deport the family ended in a bureaucratic failure. After being forced into a car and driven to Arlanda, Marta and Elias waited for 40 minutes at the terminal. The operation collapsed when the officer in charge of paperwork returned from the terminal to apologize: they could not travel because they lacked the necessary travel documents.
Two weeks later, on March 10, the cycle repeated. Marta had been returning from a church that provides clothing and essentials for Elias, and was on her way to a child psychologist to help her son process the first raid. Instead, she was intercepted by Kriminalvården officers. This time, they were taken all the way to the aircraft gate.
The second attempt only failed because of the intervention of the airline. As they were about to board, Marta alerted the cabin crew, stating she was traveling under duress and was being deported to an unsafe country. The airline refused to allow them on the flight. Upon their return to the officers, Marta says she was warned that the next attempt would involve “harder measures,” including the potential use of handcuffs.
The Psychological Toll on Children
For Elias, the impact of these raids has been immediate and visible. Marta reports that following the first event, her son suffered from nightmares and became uncharacteristically aggressive with friends and strangers. By late March, the child had become withdrawn, often refusing to leave his room except to attend preschool.
The trauma extends beyond a single family. At the return center in Märsta, other parents have reported a climate of fear. Following the second attempt to remove Marta and Elias, one father sent an SMS to others in the center warning that the authorities had arrived to send a family home, noting that the same fate could await his own children at any moment.
Josefine Paulsen, a child psychologist at Save the Children (Rädda Barnen), notes that such dramatic interventions often leave children confused and frightened. According to Paulsen, children who witness these raids frequently ask if they are criminals or if they will be the next ones taken. She emphasizes that while authorities must sometimes execute difficult decisions, doing so without ensuring valid travel documents first is a serious failing when children are involved.
A System of ‘Last Resorts’
The Swedish authorities maintain that their primary goal is to use as little force as possible, though the level of coercion is determined on an individual basis. Mattias Johansson, Transport Security Chief at Kriminalvården, described the failure to secure travel documents before the first trip to the airport as “unfortunate,” though he noted such errors are rare.
Johansson acknowledged that it is not uncommon for deportations to be halted at Arlanda, often because a flight captain refuses to board a passenger who is resisting, citing aviation safety. In such cases, he stated that the agency may use “last resort” measures, which can include hand or foot restraints and the use of privately chartered aircraft.
The conflict is further complicated by the current security situation in Ethiopia. The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs continues to advise against all non-essential travel to large parts of the country due to the security situation. Marta, who arrived in Sweden in 2021 while two months pregnant, argues that the state is attempting to send her son into a society where he cannot be safe.
Note: The names Marta and Elias are pseudonyms used to protect the family from potential reprisals.
Marta and Elias remain in Stockholm, living in a state of perpetual uncertainty. While the Swedish Migration Agency has denied her requests for a new review of the case, the family continues to wait—either for a legal miracle or for the inevitable return of the officers from Kriminalvården.
We invite readers to share their perspectives on the balance between migration enforcement and child welfare in the comments below.
