Authorities in Hungary have prevented over 54,000 people from crossing the border illegally since the beginning of this year and prosecuted over 500 smugglers, the Chief Security Advisor György Bakondi has said.
According to him, such figures mark a huge increase from the same period one year earlier when a total of 17,000 illegal immigrants were caught by the police officials in Hungary, and 200 people smugglers were prosecuted.
“People smuggling is a thriving business,” Bakondi pointed out, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Earlier this week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that “As long as we are in government, no illegal immigrant will set foot in Hungary.”
Minister Szijjártó shared a video published by US channel FOX News host Tucker Carlson, recorded in Hungary. In the video, Carlson emphasized the country’s government’s decision to erect a border fence along the Central European country’s southern borders “in the face of great international pressure” to respond to the 2015 migrant crisis.
According to Clarson, that “wall had effectively ended illegal migration into the country.”
During Clarson’s visit to the Hungary-Serbia border, he said that he had seen police officials in Hungary’s border politely handling two Syrian migrants and escorting them back to Serbia.
However, Hungary has often been criticized for the way it treats asylum seekers. Besides, for the same reason, the Europe Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) earlier this year suspended its operations in this country.
Frontex’s decision came after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling in December, which noted that Hungary was violating EU law by pushing asylum seekers and migrants back into Serbia through the Hungarian-Serbian border.
Besides Hungary’s problem with the increased number of illegal border crossings, Lithuania is also facing a surge in the number of illegal migrants from Belarus, which led Lithuanian authorities previously to declare a state of emergency.
Such a situation is a result of raised tensions between the European Union and Belarus.
In this regard, Chief Security Advisor Bakondi mentioned the situation on the Lithuania-Belarus border, emphasizing that European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson recently Lithuania and “departing from the usual stance” of Brussels, had encouraged countries to guard their borders properly.
Previously, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, highlighted that the Hellenic Republic understands Lithuania’s experience with migrant issues while he stressed that Greece would support Lithuania to combat migration issues at the country’s external borders with Belarus.
SOURCE: Schengen Visa Info
