Court greenlights deportation of Finland-born Somali with long criminal record

Being born and living in Finland all your life is not a guarantee of being able to reside in the Nordic country indefinitely.

The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court has just given the green light to the deportation of a man of Somali origin but born in Finland in 1993 due to his long criminal record.

According to the Finnish broadcasting company (YLE), the man has a criminal record that includes 11 convictions for robbery, in addition to others for theft, assault and intimidation. He was sentenced to prison terms ten different times between 2010 and 2017.

That same year the police proposed his deportation to Somalia, which was later decided by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri).

The decision included a ban on re-entering the Schengen area for three years.

The man does not have Finnish nationality, but he does have a valid residence permit. The law does not allow the deportation of Finnish citizens.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland explains in its ruling that there were strong reasons both for and against the deportation of the man.

Never been to Somalia before

In his favor, the defendant had been born and lived his entire life in Finland, in addition to being the guardian of two children and having been employed in the past as a youth worker. He also told the court that he has never been to Somalia before nor does he know anyone there.

However, the records of the Finnish Population Information System indicate that his mother tongue is Somali.

Against him, the court says he has an exceptionally long criminal record. Even during the course of the deportation case he was suspected of various crimes.

"The consistency, quantity and quality of the crimes showed a lack of adaptation to Finnish society," the Supreme Administrative Court says in its ruling.

Migri deported 41 foreigners resident in Finland this year alone, but cases in which the deportee has lived in Finland all their life are very rare.