Illegal migrants almost disappeared from the borders of Hungary

This is what becomes apparent if one looks into the relevant statistics of the Hungarian police. In the last four weeks, for example, there were only 6 people who tried to cross the Hungarian border, during which there were two weeks when nobody wanted to do so.

The Hungarian police caught only one illegal migrant at the Hungarian border last week, and they made 19 people turn back at the border fence. This means that the number of illegal migrants trying to cross the country’s borders became record low, so the trend we wrote about HERE continues.

According to Index, the reason behind the decrease is the coronavirus epidemic. However, it is a difficult question how long it will last after the end of the disease. Interestingly, the government announced a special legal order in connection with the migration crisis five years ago, and it has been

prolonged ever since, even though the crisis ended right in 2015.

Furthermore, the government says that despite the data, they are afraid of a new wave of migrants coming to the borders soon. For example, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said after a video conference with other EU foreign ministers this Wednesday that illegal migration still posed a significant threat.

• The wave of illegal migration is a very serious health risk, says Orbán cabinet
• Orbán: There was a clear link between illegal migration and the coronavirus outbreak
• Coronavirus – number of migrants trying to cross the Hungarian border record low

Mr Szijjártó added then that the V4 countries agreed to spend part of the 35 million EUR allocated before to support the strengthening of the Lybian border control on the efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the North African country. He later declared how important the Hungarian government regards those measures that the neighbouring countries implement against the virus.

Hungary gave support (masks and protective suits) to six countries in the Western Balkan to help maintain their defence abilities for the time when a new wave of migrants arrive at their borders. Such gestures were harshly attacked by Hungarian opposition parties who said that until Hungarian hospitals, social workers, and people do not have enough masks, the government should not send any of them to foreign countries. Moreover, some parties criticised the government even because they sent such protective equipment to Hungarian communities living abroad (e.g. Romania, Serbia, Slovakia etc).

Source: index.hu