Welcome to Kærshovedgård, Denmark

The place is isolated, 7 km from the nearest village, and surrounded by fences. There are no bus stations or public transportation nearby, making it difficult to leave. In fact, it's even difficult to leave my room, which is located in the heart of the place.
 
Within these walls, there are about 200 people and 150 rooms. There's a football field, a volleyball court, and a gym. Sounds nice, right?

 
There's also a canteen that serves three meals a day (with a recurring menu). You can't eat whatever you want because cooking is forbidden, and you're not even allowed to own cooking utensils. You can't order food from outside because, quite simply, you're not allowed to work, so you'll remain penniless. Some residents receive a monthly allowance (about 900 kroner), but they must attend certain activities daily, otherwise you'll only receive half the amount. But most of us receive nothing at all, due to the status of our case.

Typical meal in the canteen.

My clothes are old, and the salary here doesn't allow me to buy new ones. The clothes they provide are often second-hand and worn. I've asked the Red Cross staff here for shoes several times, to no avail.
 
This place is for people who have committed crimes and cannot be repatriated. It's also for people like me, whose only crime is that they came here instead of getting killed in their homeland. Most of us are rejected asylum seekers, but I did not get a decision yet. I should be in a normal camp while waiting for that, but something happened:

January 18, 2023, Copenhagen Airport

My long journey as a refugee from Syria had come to an end, even though I wanted to go to Norway. I was arrested at the airport for using a fake passport (like 90% of refugees are forced to do, as we can’t get visas).
 
Police officer: We will take you to court for using fake documents. Me: But I'm just a refugee. Is there a way to avoid prison? Police officer: You can apply for asylum, and we'll send you to a refugee camp. Me: Okay, I'll apply for asylum. 

After applying, I was detained at the airport. About three hours later, the police officer returned and told me I was being sent to prison, not to a camp. I got a court sentence for trying to enter with a fake passport and spent 40 days in Copenhagen Central Prison (Vestre Fængsel). This procedure was later found to be illegal by the Danish Supreme Court.
 
After prison I spent almost 2 years in Kærshovedgård, where I still live. Although my asylum application is still being processed, I don't know why they chose this camp for me. It should only be for those whose cases are rejected or those who have an expulsion order.

Block with rooms

I mentioned earlier that I couldn't leave my room because I didn't want to integrate into the society that had formed within these walls. I didn't want to be friends with a drug dealer, a rapist, or someone with a mental illness who was destroyed by this place. The staff here don't respect your privacy. In fact, their racist behaviour is systematic, pushing you to flee, which can lead to imprisonment.
 
For example, I was living alone in my room when the staff came and told me that someone would be coming from prison to live with me. I said, "It's fine, but it has to be a new asylum seeker like me, not someone who has served a criminal sentence.” They didn't care, and they brought the guy to live with me in the room that same day. He had served three years in prison for possession of an unlicensed weapon and drug trafficking. He stayed with me for six months, and it was one of the worst periods of my life. If you're wondering why, put yourself in my shoes.

I fled my country (Syria), where a brutal government bombarded us with all kinds of weapons, even using chemical weapons. It practiced many forms of death: torture to death in prisons, suffocation from chemicals, or death under the rubble of a house after it was bombed by aircraft... All this just because the people asked for freedom.
 
On the other side, there were terrorist groups like ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front, whose leader is now the president of Syria! In addition, there were Kurdish forces, Turkish forces, and many foreign troops, all fighting in my country, and the only losers were the country's own people. I came here fleeing war... I came to a country that respects human rights in every inch of its territory, except for that small spot called Kærshovedgård, where it's okay to put a new refugee with a hardened criminal, because they all have black hair.

I'm writing this article now alone in my room. I don't know if I've developed some kind of mental illness, but I don't want to leave this room anymore. Everything outside is gloomy and painful, and everything inside is isolation and loneliness. I remain isolated and alone، The only thing that consoles me is the picture of my daughter and her innocent voice messages asking when she will see me again.
 
This text and all photos in the article were sent to Refugees Welcome, and only slightly edited. The writer wants to be anonymous, but we know his identity. He was placed in Kærshovedgård because the prison sentence automatically comes with an expulsion order and a 6-year entry ban. This will be removed once (if) he is granted asylum. A lawyer succeeded in having him moved to an accommodation camp a few months after he wrote the text. All new asylum applications from Syrians have been on hold since the fall of the Assad regime, but the processing will start in December 2025. Around 500 new Syrian cases were pending at the time when this article was released.