The indisputable success of the Hungarian border fence

Posted by DanielS on Wednesday, 17 May 2017 01:20.

Visigrad Post, “The indisputable success of the Hungarian border fence”, 15 May 2017:

Hungary – The second fence on the southern border of Hungary is complete. Hungary is now endowed with the most monitored border in Europe, whose effectiveness is indisputable.

Along the 155 km of the border with Serbia, the anti-migrant barrier has been reinforced with a second fence, motion detection systems and thermal cameras, and an asphalted road between the two fences. It took about 15 million euros to erect this second barrier. The cost of mobilizing soldiers and policemen at the border has not yet been established, but the results are there: since 28 March, no one has been able to cross the border illegally.

If, however, anyone succeeds in passing, it is unlikely that they will continue their journey. Any clandestine intercepted in Hungary is taken back to the crossing point of the southern border, to the Serbian side. They are recorded as illegals and are no longer able to file asylum applications.

Prevention is better than cure

This could be the watchword of the government, which, in erecting this reinforced barrier, complied to the urgent demand of Mayor László Toroczkai, vice-president of the right-wing populist Jobbik party, and also mayor of Ásotthalom, a town along the Serbian border that gained worldwide infamy after his viral video aimed at discouraging migrants from passing by his place.

“I asked for the barrier in 2014. From its construction in 2015, the results were very convincing,” the Hungarian local official told to the Visegrád Post. “The double barrier was and is necessary, as is the strong police presence on the ground, as no barrier completely deters those who want to cross. This Monday, police discovered a 1-kilometer long tunnel made by smugglers … ” The government maintains that the barrier was all the more necessary as the wave of immigration of 2015 would be only the first of a potential long series.

Erdogan’s recurring threats to the European Union, in particular, and the millions of Africans waiting in Libya are pushing the Hungarian government to believe that the pressure on its southern border is only temporarily low, and the Hungarian authorities are now on a permanent war footing to deal with the migratory waves.

A vision shared by László Toroczkai, who commented during our phone call that “this barrier and the means to curb mass immigration will not just be necessary in the years to come, but also in the coming centuries.”

Tags: Activism, European Nationalism, Immigration and Politics, Law & Order

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Posted by Hungary Schengen fence celebrates 2yrs on Wed, 20 Sep 2017 04:43 | #

Visigrad Post, “Hungary: the border fence is two years old”, 18 Sept 2017:

Hungary – As of Friday, September 15, the provisionally closed and monitored barrier on the border between Hungarian-Serbia has actually been in place for two years. Following the great migratory wave of summer 2015, the Conservative government of Viktor Orbán decided to erect a barrier along its border with Serbia in order to secure the boundaries of the Schengen area. At the press conference at the Röszke border crossing point, the government spokesperson Zoltán Kovács and the government’s special security adviser György Bakondi summed up the situation.

The spokesperson recalled that Hungary had not waited for any aid in 2015 and that it had acted in its own interest, that of its citizens and that of Europe, which was to ensure that the illegals can not enter the Hungarian soil.

The government’s special security advisor, General Bakondi, then recalled Hungary’s view on this temporary barrier: “If anyone opposes the border barrier in this situation, then he is standing for as many illegal immigrants as possible enter the EU.”

General Bakondi then recalled the fine examples of international cooperation. “V4 police forces came to help us, Frontex officers participated in the surveillance and the Austrian army provided material assistance.”

The security advisor then went on to detail some figures relating to illegal immigration:

In 2015, 391,384 clandestine entries into the national territory were recorded. In 2016, the number fell to 18,236. In the same year, 10,600 illegal entry attempts were prevented and 8,400 illegal immigrants were directly escorted to the border. The entry into force on July 5, 2016, the law on asylum applications and illegal immigration enabled law enforcement authorities to immediately expel any clandestine intercepted within an 8km strip behind the border – this was then generalized to all the country – and had significant effect.

For the moment, the figures for 2017 are the following: 1,184 illegal entries recorded, 7,300 attempts prevented, 4,500 interceptions made and 2,800 immediate deportation to the other side of the border.

The Ministers then recalled that Hungary still respects the right to asylum, but insisted on the need to examine each case on a case-by-case basis, as required by law, which could lead to significant waiting times for applicants, hence the need for transit zones at border points.

In 2015, Hungary received 177,135 asylum applications and granted 508 applications, in 2016, 438 applications were granted out of the 29,432, and in 2017, 700 applications were granted to some of the 2.578 asylum-seekers.

General Bakondi then recalled that despite the closure of the Balkan route in March 2016 with the alignment of Austria on the policy of the Visegrád group on this issue, there are still about 80 to 85,000 illegal immigrants along the route, and that these individuals are responsible for the current constant migratory pressure at the southern border.

This pressure from the Balkans has begun to generate alternative routes, and the number of migrants passing through Romania is increasing. This year around 700 illegal immigrants were intercepted on the border between Romania and Hungary. But the situation is under the control of the authorities of the two countries, said the minister.

At the end of the press conference, the government spokesman recalled that “in previous years, there has been proved an obvious link between illegal immigration and the deterioration of public security in Europe, and Hungary will not compromise on this issue.”

Posted by Bosnia a new migratory route? on Thu, 17 May 2018 23:35 | #

Visigrad Post, “Migrants spotted in Bosnia: a new migratory route?”

Visigrad Post, “Migrants and Slovenian elections: the future of the Balkans is at stake”, 17 May 2018:

Slovenia – The migrants are squatting in Sarajevo and Slovenia fears up to 60.000 illegals to transit through Bosnia: the Slovenian elections will weigh heavily on the outcome of this regional issue.

At the very moment we mentioned the possibility of a new migratory crisis in the Balkans due to the transit through Bosnia and the relative silence of the Croatian authorities about this new crisis to come, the Croatian press just started to speak about alarming perspectives for Croatia, with 60,000 potential migrants feared to come from Bosnia according to the Slovenian authorities.

Henceforth groups of migrants coming from the whole Arab-Muslim world (from Algeria to Pakistan) have established illegal camps in the very heart of Sarajevo.

Posted by Hungary would help Montenegro build border fence on Sun, 27 May 2018 05:35 | #

Visigrad Post, “Will Montenegro build a fence at the Albanian border? Hungary is ready to help”, 22 May 2018:

Montenegro – Migratory crisis: Montenegro does not dismiss the possibility of building a fence at its border with Albania; and Hungary proposes to help.

As mentioned a few days ago, some groups of migrants have been spotted in Croatia while coming from Bosnia - the new transit country chosen by the migrants who want to reach Western Europe through the Balkans.

Currently, there are up to 60.000 migrants that Slovenia fears may arrive. With an electoral campaign at the moment in the country, there is risk of no political action being taken in regard to the migrants, such that they’d be bottled-up there if Austria would refuse their transit by way of the Slovenian border.

But it might happen that the migration route could be cut-off upstream if recent declarations of the Montenegrin authorities are to be trusted.

Vojislav Dragovi, chief of the border police department at the ministry of Interior of Montenegro, declared on national TV that the erection of a border fence at the Albanian border was to be considered for the event that migratory pressure may increase on Montenegro. A pressure compounded as Albania does not seem disposed to accept the migrants back (using a pretext that there is no evidence that they have come from Albania) after they have arrived in Montenegro, despite bilateral agreements between Montenegro and Albania

However, Hungary has declared willing to provide Montenegro with 25 km of border fence for a border between Montenegro and Albania that has a length of 172 km.