Here in America, we can’t seem to deport even the most vicious of criminals–not so they will stay deported, anyway. In Denmark, the Telegraph reports, people are fed up. I don’t think the article is available online to non-subscribers, so I will quote it:

Foreign criminals awaiting deportation from Denmark will be banished to a deserted island, the government has announced. Rejected asylum seekers who have committed crimes will be detained at a facility on Lindholm, an uninhabited, seven-hectare island in the province of Vordingborg, one and a half miles from the mainland. It will also house foreigners who do not have permission to stay but cannot be deported for legal reasons, such as stateless people and those from countries which do not have a readmission agreement with Denmark.

The Danes seem to have taken an interest in their own self-preservation, unlike so many Americans:

A spokesman for the party said, “Foreign criminals have no reason to be in Denmark. “Until we can get rid of them, we will move them to Lindholm, where they will be obliged to stay at the new deportation center at night. There will be police there around the clock.”

Left-wing Danes have responded with a variant on the “This is not who we are” plaint of American leftists:

“The green government I want to lead would never force people on to a deserted island,” said Uffe Elbaek, a prime ministerial candidate and leader of the Alternative party. “Inhuman politics are creating a completely different Denmark from the Denmark I love.”

The idea has appeal, but here in the U.S., we are going to need a bigger island.