How progressive Denmark became the face of the anti-migration left

Hardline rhetoric around immigration has taken hold in a country that is known for its broadly liberal values, writes Emily Rauhala

Rangin Mohamed Belal said she was notified that her Danish residence permit had been revoked because security conditions had improved in Syria (Photo for The Washington Post by Lorenzo Tugnoli)

Zero asylum. Send them back to Syria. Claims should be sorted somewhere else.

It may sound like the rhetoric of the far right, but in this wealthy, Scandinavian welfare state, it has become the political centre.

Denmark, polite and progressive, is profoundly sceptical of asylum seekers. Prime minister Mette Frederiksen, of the centre-left Social Democrats, has touted a vision of “zero” people arriving to Denmark outside the United Nations resettlement system. A key priority for her government: working with European Union allies to set up claims-processing centres far away.