Overview: Lennart Eriksson, a 20-year veteran of Sweden's immigration bureau Migrationsverket, was fired for having a website where he expressed support for Israel and U.S. World War Two General George Patton. Eriksson describes his experiences in an English essay titled "The National Migration Board fired me for claiming Israel has a right to exist." He throws in a few mentions of Patton as well.

The firing was ruled an illegal termination by a district court in Mölndal in November 2008 and Migrationsverket was ordered to pay 100,000 kronor in damages and 150,000 in legal fees. Migrationsverket attorney Staffan Opitz had argued in court that Sheik Ahmed Yassin was a "freedom fighter" and Hamas a "liberation movement", as if this would justify the firing of someone for opposing them. The director who fired Eriksson, Eugene Palmer was himself fired on the 27th of April in 2009.

Introduction by Lennart Ericksson:

Eugene Palmer began his employment at the Immigration Office on 7 June 2007. The same day at 16:37 I received an SMS from Kria Arvidsson at the Migration Board. It reads as follows:

"Can you meet me and [torbjörn] Modena in Stockholm on 3 July on the time that suits your train? Greetings Kria "

That was how it started. I met them both and later Palmer. This resulted in Palmer prepared a document, which you can read here. It contains the five reasons underlying the decision that I could not remain as head of unit.

Original document URL: http://www.lennarteriksson.se/img040.pdf

Bad translation by Google and guesswork by a non-speaker.

[Note: a handwritten circled number 5 is on the upper right corner of the original document. The document is not dated.]

Outplacement of Lennart Eriksson

Lennart Eriksson has a position as director for asylum [provningsenhet: review?] in Goteborg. I intend to make the decision that he no longer maintain that position. These are my [skal: findings]:

1. Lennart Eriksson has a website on which he gives the Israeli side of the Palestine conflict his unqualified support. Given that conflict generates asylum candidates from the Palestinian side, his published support for the Israeli side is not possible to reconsile with his position as head of asylum review in Immigration Services.
2. On the same website Lennart Ericksson expresses his admiration for General Patton, today best known for his conduct in Italy during the final stages of World War II when General Patton -- contrary to given orders -- continued to advance northward. Admiration for a person known for his lack of loyalty to their superiors affects my confidence in Lennart Ericksson in the negative direction.
3. Asylum provningsverksamheten: review activities?] have historically never been successful. Basic application changes must be made in this area. Lennart Ericksson's ability to carry out these changes is significantly limited by his need to publicly express his private and not at all controversial views on various issues.
4. Lennart Ericksson for the support of his management cites two references. These two persons have spontaneously said things including that they would nover have appointed Lennart Ericksson as manager.
5. I have [forutsattningslost: ???] moved into my talks with Lennart Ericksson. The dialogue that has emerged in our conversations have been [uppseendevackande: not good]. I have, during all my years as manager, had reason to interact and converse privately with two hundred subordinate managers. Never have I seen such intrasingence and unwillingness to find a solution that can be acceptable to both parties. This impression gives me strong doubts about Lennart Ericksson's ability to manage relationships with persons under his authority.

These [skal: things] have led to the conclusion that I lack confidence in Lennart Ericksson's ability to lead and process asylum applications and thus it becomes unthinkable to have him as my chief subordinate.

It has been decided to reassign Lennart Ericksson to the position of [beslutsfattare: lower ranking official] in asylum review in Goteberg with loss of pay and other benefits.

I today spoke with Lennart Ericksson to report my decision and the reasons for it. Lennart Ericksson has not accepted the reassignment but has not returned to the position of [tankta: thought? influence?] at asylum processing in Goteborg.

Eugene Palmer
Chief of Activities, Asylum Review.