Hungary’s security forces apprehended 750 migrants who had illegally entered the country last Friday, setting a new daily record, the Hungarian domestic security adviser told the national media over the weekend.
While speaking with the public broadcaster M1 on Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Chief Internal Security Advisor György Bakondi shined a bright light on the surge of illegal immigrant apprehensions which have taken place near Hungary’s border with Serbia and Romania, noting that border guards had prevented some 80,000 migrants from illegally entering the country so far this year.
The national security chief also mentioned that some 780 human traffickers had been arrested by Hungarian authorities this year, adding that the number of illegal migrants and human traffickers who have been arrested in 2020 had increased considerably compared to the previous year.
Although the number of migrant apprehensions along the Hungarian border is certainly on the rise and could rise even further due to increased migratory pressure from Afghanistan, Bakondi said that current levels are still nowhere near those seen during 2015, when it was not out of the norm for 3,000 to 4,000 illegal migrants to be apprehended daily.
Bakondi also slammed liberal bureaucrats in the European Union for suggesting that tens of thousands of Afghan migrants ought to be welcomed and integrated into the European labor force, saying that this kind of talk would more than likely be received by Afghans weighing their options as a “letter of invitation.”
Lastly, Bakondi reaffirmed the Hungarian government’s position that potential migrants from Afghanistan and elsewhere are better served if they are helped in their own countries and regions.
Last week, Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas said that he expected EU member states to reach a final agreement regarding the EU Pact for Migration and Asylum once national elections in Germany and France have concluded.
In the wake of the European Commission’s introduction of the new migration pact last Wednesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the agreement introduced a repackaged version of compulsory migrant quotas, and that Hungary would oppose the newly crafted proposal.
In the past, the prime minister of the Czech Republic has spoken similarly, saying: “The Czech Republic will continue to decide on its asylum policy. I have rejected the system of mandatory quotas before, and I will continue to do so, no matter what the European Commission will call it. I consider this matter closed, on the other hand, Europe must find an effective solution against illegal migration and break up smuggling gangs.”
As things presently stand, the Central European Visegrád Four countries — Hungary Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia — along with Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, and Austria have voiced their strong opposition to the imposition of any kind of migrant quotas. As Remix News previously reported, six of these seven countries last year sent a letter to the European Commission where they made it clear to the executive body that they’re unwilling to accept such a quota system.
Austria’s conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, despite not signing the letter, has repeatedly stated that Austria rejects any form of migrant redistribution quotas, and supports countries like Hungary and Poland on the issue.
