The Swedish government announced on Wednesday that it plans to deport up to 80,000 migrants whose applications for asylum have been denied.

Interior minister Anders Ygeman said the migrants will be flown out of the country on charter flights over the next several years, according to the BBC.

“We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000,” the BBC quoted Ygeman as saying to local media.

Sweden has been a highly sought-after destination for the tens of thousands of migrants that entered Europe over the past year, with the Scandinavian nation receiving 163,000 asylum applications. Close to 59,000 of those requests have been processed, of which 55% were accepted.

Like other European countries, Sweden has faced tensions over its migrant population in recent days, with the latest incident involving a 15-year-old refugee who stabbed and killed an asylum center worker earlier this week.

[BBC]

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com.