Hungary border control

No more border control at the Croatian-Hungarian border from 2023 – here is why

Border crossing Röszke Serbia

Romania and Bulgaria have been working hard to protect their borders and have done a lot to rein in illegal migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook on Friday, adding that the two countries should have been allowed to join the European Union’s Schengen zone.

Referring to a Thursday vote in the European Parliament, Szijjártó said that Croatia had been granted Schengen status, while Romania and Bulgaria were rejected “whereas both were deserving”.

Szijjártó insisted that their rejection was due to a veto by Austria and the Netherlands, while “everybody else was in support”. He regretted that “wailing journalists of the liberal mainstream, Brussels bureaucrats, and ministers of liberal governments” were silent, whereas all new positions presented by the Hungarian government were met with “clamourous” criticism.

“If a central European country uses their veto, that is the end of the world and destroying European unity, while a veto by western Europeans is okay,” he said.

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Body found at Horgos shows increasing violence in border region

crime scene police

The body of a young man discovered at Horgos on the Serbian side of the border shows that violent incidents linked to illegal migration have become frequent in Hungary’s border region, the prime minister’s chief security advisor told public current affairs channel M1 on Thursday.

Whereas in the past illegal migrants would run from police, it is now a common phenomenon along the entire Balkan route that they attack police officers, pelting stones at them and firing shots in the air, György Bakondi said.

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“It should be clarified how people smuggler gangs have managed to obtain guns in the past six months,” he said.

Bakondi said it was important that the Serbian government responded to the discovery of the body at Horgos by making every effort to provide for the security of residents in the border region. “Hungarian police are cooperating with their Serbian colleagues in that effort,” he added.

He noted the Hungarian government’s measure of reinforcing the border fence and increasing its height to make it much harder to cut through or climb over using ladders.

Speaking to public broadcaster Kossuth Radio, Bakondi said Hungarian authorities had apprehended a record number of around 240,000 illegal migrants so far this year, up from 102,000 in the same period in 2021.

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Hungary spent a huge amount to protect border

Hungary has spent almost HUF 650 billion (EUR 1.6bn) on protecting its southern border since 2015, and the European Union has covered just 2 percent of the costs, an interior ministry official told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, 894 applicants for border patrol duties have signed their contracts and 636 have already passed the related exam, Bence Rétvari, parliamentary state secretary of the interior ministry said in a briefing to parliament’s national defence and law enforcement committee. Hundreds are being trained each week, he said, adding that by winter there would be 1,000 border patrollers, relieving soldiers of the burden of border duties.

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Rétvári qualified the new border patrol regiment a success, saying they boosted the deterrent effect at the southern border, a sign of which is that illegal migrants are stepping up their attempts to enter the country before the entire forces are deployed.

By Nov. 1, 234,000 people had tried to enter the country illegally, up from 122,000 last year, and 6,000 the year before that. This year, 1,624 human traffickers were caught, as against 1,277 last year, and 455 the year before, he said.

Rétvári said that instead of turning away when confronted, they often physically challenged border guards, and serious physical violence had taken place at the border.

He noted that the border fence is being strengthened, and a new fence is being built on the Hoduna section.

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Hungary border fence to be fortified

Hungary border fence

The government will fortify the fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia, an interior ministry official said in the border town of Röszke on Friday.

Hungary is increasing the height of its border fence so that Europe does not have to bring back internal border controls, state secretary Bence Rétvári told a press conference. If Hungary did not protect its border, numerous European countries would have to reinstate checks on their borders, which would not only be an inconvenience when travelling but would also hurt the European economy, he said.

Though the fence on the Hungary-Serbia border also protects the security of Europe and Europeans, the European Union has not even reimbursed 2 percent of the 600 billion forints (EUR 1.5bn) it cost to build it, Rétvári said.

He said Hungary was a net contributor to the EU, arguing that it fulfilled all its payment obligations, while the EU was “using various procedures to block funds we are entitled to”.

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More than 9,000 refugees arrive from Ukraine on Wednesday

Fully 5,207 people crossed into Hungary directly from Ukraine on Wednesday, while another 4,279 crossed from Romania, the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) said.

Police issued temporary residence permits valid for thirty days to 191 people, ORFK told MTI on Thursday. Holders of such permits must contact a local immigration office near their place of residence within thirty days to apply for permanent documents, it added.

Budapest received 40 people, 19 children among them, by train, ORFK said.

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Fidesz lawmaker: PACE backs illegal migration in new report

Border Control Migration Fence

A recent Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) report “backs illegal migration”, Fidesz Barna Pál Zsigmond said on Thursday in Strasbourg on the sidelines of PACE’s autumn session. “Europe’s left wing is again talking about taking in illegal migrants,” Zsigmond told MTI.

The report, Zsigmond said, contained proposals on managing migration and accepting illegal migrants, while failing to address the importance of border protection.

He accused the left wing of “attacking Hungary” in view of the country’s position that migration should be prevented rather than managed. The government, he said, has enacted measures that help to protect Europe, Hungary and the security of Hungarians.

Hungary is protecting its borders in line with obligations set down in international treaties, he said, adding it maintains its position that Europe must be protected against limitless waves of illegal migrants. War refugees, however, must be provided all possible support, he said.

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Orbán cabinet: Illegal entry attempts exceed 200,000 this year

Hungary fence border

The Hungarian authorities have apprehended 201,486 illegal migrants at the country’s border since the start of the year, the prime minister’s chief security advisor told MTI on Monday.

Commenting on fresh data released by the government, György Bakondi noted a “dynamic” increase to 194,040 during the period of January and October 5 from 121,956 recorded for the whole year of 2021.

The figures show that the current wave of migrants can be likened to the one in 2015, affecting not only the Hungarian-Serbian border but the entire route running through the Balkans, Bakondi said. “Many are arriving in Turkey from Iran and Syria while many set off in the direction of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia,” he added.

The chief security advisor called people smuggling “a very dangerous branch of organised crime”. He noted that the Hungarian authorities detained 1,497 people smugglers in Jan-Oct this year, up from 886 during the same period in 2021.

Bakondi said that refugees fleeing the war are also arriving in large numbers at Hungary’s border crossings with Ukraine and Romania which he said was putting increased pressure on Hungarian authorities and the civil aid organisations. He noted that so far 948,038 refugees have received various forms of support including accommodation, hospital care, food supplies and arrangements in travelling further.

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Read alsoThousands of illegal immigrants arrested at the Hungarian-Romanian border

Protection of external borders crucial to Schengen area security, says Minister Pintér

Hungary fence border

Europe must protect its external borders so as to guarantee peace and security within the borders of the passport-free Schengen area, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said after meeting his Slovak, Czech and Austrian counterparts in Bratislava (Pozsony) on Monday.

The ministerial meeting was held at the initiative of Slovakia in the wake of Czechia and Austria recently reinstating checks on the Slovakian border in response to a rise in the flow of illegal migrants.

The four officials discussed boosting cooperation against illegal migration.

Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Pintér said Hungary’s position on illegal migration hadd not changed since 2015.

“In 2015, when 391,000 people entered Hungary uninvited, we built a fence and have been protecting the European Union’s external Schengen borders ever since,” he said.

The minister said the pressure on Hungary from illegal migration this year was at its highest since 2015, with the authorities having turned away or deported some 100,000 people so far. He said the fact that some 2,000 people smugglers had been sentenced so far this year was a testament to Hungary’s successful border protection efforts.

Pintér thanked Austria and Czechia for their assistance in protecting the Schengen area‘s external borders, saying that hopefully the new agreements between the four countries would provide further help.

“I hope Brussels will also accept that we need to protect our external borders in order to ensure peace and security within the Schengen zone’s borders,” Pintér added.

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Roman Mikulec, Slovakia’s interior minister, welcomed the “constructive” meeting, saying he and his counterparts were in agreement on the need to boost the protection of the external borders, to stop illegal migration outside the Schengen area, and that this required cooperation from the European Union. “Frontex should do what it was created for,” he said.

Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said the message of the meeting was that illegal migration needed to be resolved at the EU level and that the bloc needed to recognise that it had to act.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said “cross-border crime” required cross-border solutions. Though the protection of the internal borders is also important, it is the strengthening of the external borders that is most important right now, he said, adding that Austria will send police officers to help boost border controls.

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Read alsoThousands of illegal immigrants arrested at the Hungarian-Romanian border

Thousands of illegal immigrants arrested at the Hungarian-Romanian border

police

Thanks to close cooperation between Hungarian and Romanian police, border partols detained over 4,000 illegal migrants on the border of the two countries between January and August this year, the head of the Oradea regional border patrol unit said on Monday.

Speaking to a press conference held together with Brigadier-General Zsolt Polyák, the head of the Csongrád-Csanád County police in south-eastern Hungary, General Bondar Marin said most illegal crossings are attempted at the motorway crossing at Csanádpalota-Nadlac (Nagylak), where the authorities have detained 2,600 people in the Jan-Aug period this year. On the green border, joint Hungarian-Romanian units patrol 10km into the territory of both countries, he added.

Polyák also praised cooperation between Hungarian and Romanian police, and noted that while the police worked together, the migrants discovered at the Csanádpalota-Nadlac crossing fell under Romanian jurisdiction. So far this year the Romanian authorities have launched 105 procedures for people smuggling after the detection of 160 cases where illegal migrants had been hidden in the cargo hold of trailer trucks or in cars, he said.

Great experience and expertise is required to uncover border violators hiding in lorries, and this task has been made even more difficult given that freight traffic at the Csanadpalota crossing has grown by about 20 percent this year, he said.

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Ten thousand border violators caught by civil guards in Hungary

migration

The government has appealed to civil guards to continue protecting the border until year-end, with the promise of further reimbursement, a government official said on Sunday.

In February, the government asked civil guards help protect the southern border, for which they have received payment, Zsolt Nyitrai, the prime ministerial commissioner in charge of social policy, said in a video uploaded to Facebook.

Out of 65,000 civil guards who normally maintain public safety in localities voluntarily, more than 11,000 have contributed to border protection in the past five months, and they are being asked to carry on doing so until the end of the year against continued payment for their services.

“We thank civil guards for helping in the serious and responsible task of policing the border, and soon they will be joined by special border patrollers,” Nyitrai said.

András Túrós, president of the National Civil Guard Association, noted that the civil guard is the only non-governmental organisation participating in border protection.

In the past few months, 11,000 civil guards have completed 110,000 hours of service, helping to capture more than 10,000 border violators, he said, adding that they reported 20 cases of human trafficking to the authorities.

He said the “enhanced border protection service” will carry on performing their duties from Sept. 12 following the government’s request and with the unanimous agreement of civil guard leaders.

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PHOTOS: first Hungarian border hunters inaugurated!

Hungary border hunter

“Security starts at our borders, thus Hungary’s security will start with its border patrollers,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a ceremony inaugurating the border patrol unit in Budapest on Friday.

Hungary’s goal is to become Europe’s safest country, prime minister Orbán said

Orbán told the new patrollers that the country “respects your commitment, your courage, and that you have agreed to do this task and we will appreciate the service you do for your homeland”. “A whole country is behind you,” the prime minister added.

Despite the difficulties, “Hungary must not give up its goal to become Europe’s safest country”, he said, adding that eliminating risks arising from illegal migration was a top priority.

 

Hungary border guard
Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán

Orbán held talks with chief rabbi of Israel

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán held talks with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel David Baruch Lau on Thursday, discussing support granted to the Jewish community, Hungary-Israel relations, and the Russian-Ukraine war, the prime minister’s press chief said. The talks were attended by Orban’s political director Balazs Orban and chief rabbi of the EMIH Jewish Community Slomo Koves, Bertalan Havasi said. Lau expressed thanks to the Hungarian government for its support to strengthen the world’s Jewish communities.

Orbán chief rabbi
Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán

He highlighted the help that Hungary had provided offering refuge and services to Jews fleeing Ukraine. Orban and Lau welcomed the close strategic alliance between Israel and Hungary. In connection with the Russia-Ukraine war, they urged immediate ceasefire and noted the importance of establishing peace, Havasi said.

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Read alsoOrbán cabinet: 162,000 illegal entrants apprehended so far this year

Illegal migration – Special legal order extended until March 7

hungary_border_police

In light of increasing migration pressure on Hungary’s border, the cabinet has decided to extend the related special legal order until March 7 next year, the Government Information Centre (KTK) has announced.

The relevant government decree will soon be published in the official Hungarian Gazette, KTK said in a statement late on Tuesday.

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KTK noted that more than 162,000 illegal entrants have been detained at the border so far this year, as against 60,000 during the same period in 2021. “This means that 100,000 more migrants have sought to illegally enter Hungary in twelve months and the number of people smugglers has doubled compared with the same period of the previous year,” KTK said.

It said that migrants stranded in the Balkans were becoming more and more violent when attempting to enter Hungary’s territory and regularly attacked police officers protecting the border.

“The national government will not allow Hungary to be turned into a country of immigrants,” the statement said. “The Hungarian people expect from the government to protect the country’s borders.”

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Orbán cabinet: 162,000 illegal entrants apprehended so far this year

hungary fence border

The Hungarian authorities have apprehended 162,000 illegal migrants at the country’s border since the start of the year, the prime minister’s chief security advisor told public television on Tuesday.

György Bakondi said the number had gone up from 60,000 during the same period in 2021. The number of people smugglers detained has increased from 600 last year to 1,220 this year, he added.

The figures show that the border is under massive pressure, with illegal migrants of various nationalities arriving continually, helped by increasingly well-organised human smuggling rings servicing the routes such as Afghanistan-Germany, he said.

“Hungary’s government is making every effort to guarantee border security … the border fence is being reinforced,” Bakondi said.

He said the fence was being reinforced and raised to make it much harder to cut through or climb over using ladders.

The first 500 members of a special unit of border patrollers to work with local police to secure Hungary’s borders will take their oaths on Friday, he said. (Details – Hungarian Police: Over 1,500 apply to serve in border patrol – VIDEO)

Bakondi told public broadcaster Kossuth radio’s morning programme that whereas in 2015 mostly Syrians were coming to Europe, currently there are also large numbers of people from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tunisia, Palestine and Morocco.

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Hungarian Police: Over 1,500 apply to serve in border patrol – VIDEO

hungary border patrol

Over 1,500 people have applied to serve in the police’s border patrol unit including some 500 that have already signed their contracts and started a four-week training, the official police.hu website said.

Applications are processed and aptitude tests are conducted continuously, the website said.

Training courses are held in Bács-Kiskun, Békés, Csongrád-Csanád and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties in southern and eastern Hungary. Recruits are learning about policing and legal subjects, border protection and traffic control as well as marksmanship, the statement said.

The police started recruiting border patrols in July, to deploy on Hungary’s southern borders against illegal migration. The patrol will be an independent unit within the police force, with 14 companies stationed in Bács-Kiskun County, 6 in Csongrád-Csanád, and 1 company in Békés, Hajdu-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties each.

The first campaign aims for recruiting 2,200 men for a 3-year period.

As we wrote in August, Hungarian authorities have apprehended some 145,000 illegal entrants at the country’s border since the beginning of the year, details HERE.

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Ukrainian refugees keep coming to Hungary

Fully 7,445 people crossed into Hungary directly from Ukraine on Saturday, while another 14,566 from Ukraine crossed from Romania, the national police headquarters (ORFK) said. Meanwhile, these numbers were 7,671 and 12,415 on Friday.

Saturday numbers

Police issued temporary residence permits valid for thirty days to 304 people, ORFK told MTI on Sunday.

Holders of such permits must contact a local immigration office near their place of residence within thirty days to apply for permanent documents, it added. Budapest received 104 people, 24 children among them, by train, ORFK said.

The number of refugees coming to Hungary on Friday

Police issued temporary residence permits valid for thirty days to 299 people, ORFK told MTI on Saturday.

Holders of such permits must contact a local immigration office near their place of residence within thirty days to apply for permanent documents, it added. Budapest received 61 people, 20 children among them, by train, ORFK said.

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IT problems cause delays at Budapest Airport! -UPDATED

Airport

Problems with IT systems resulted in extended waiting times at border crossings on roads and at the Liszt Ferenc international airport in Budapest from 1pm on Saturday, the national police headquarters said.

Work is under way to resolve the problems but travellers are advised to consult the police’s border crossing information website Hatarinfo and the road information system mobile app Rutin before setting off, police said on its website.

Simplified border crossing procedures have been introduced to reduce the waiting times, police said before 3pm.

Traffic at the borders has been undisturbed since 5pm, police added. Thanks to simplified border crossing procedures introduced to reduce the waiting times, there were no significant delays, police said.

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Over 770 kilos of endangered crayfish seized at Romanian border

Crayfish

Hungary’s national tax authority NAV has seized 772 kilos of Danube crayfish, an endangered species in Hungary, from a Romanian lorry at the Nagylak border crossing.

The 17,000 pieces of crayfish worth 842 million forints (EUR 2m) were stashed in the vehicle which was on its way to Italy, NAV said on Thursday.

The crayfish were taken to the Szeged Zoo. Legal proceedings against the driver is under way.

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Illegal migration: Some 145,000 entrants apprehended so far this year in Hungary

Border cross

Hungarian authorities have apprehended some 145,000 illegal entrants at the country’s border since the beginning of the year, the prime minister’s chief security advisor told public television channel M1 on Wednesday.

György Bakondi said the number has gone up from 57,000 during the same period in 2021. The number of people smugglers detained had doubled, to over 1,000, he added.

“While illegal entrants used to come mainly from Syria and Afghanistan in the past, today many of them also arrive from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Tunisia,” Bakondi said.

He said that in response, the government has decided to reinforce the fence along the borders and has started to recruit and train a special unit of border rangers to work with local police to secure Hungary’s borders.

As regards Ukraine, Bakondi told public broadcaster Kossuth radio’s morning programme that 10,000-13,000 migrants cross to Hungary from the neighbouring country daily. He noted that since the outbreak of the war, Hungary has received a total of 885,000 people crossing from Ukraine.

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