Hungarians Who Live Near Border With Serbia Claim Migrants Are …

The Hungarian police have recently caught some immigrants who have been seen again on the streets of Sombor (Zombor), Serbia, near the Hungarian border.

As the local media reports, the pressure on the Hungarian border is high and the locals have said that they feel threatened, SchengenVisaInfo.com[1] reports. In addition, some of these illegal immigrants take a taxi to get to the city from where they continue their journey towards the Hungarian border. Locals also indicated that clashes between immigrant groups are common.

The police patrols this area very often and thus collects these migrants and then transports them to the reception centers in Serbia. On the other hand, the residents say that the illegal immigrants may return again after a few days. At the end of October last year, the Hungarian authorities decided to increase the height of the border fence along the border with Serbia[2] and strengthen it as well.

In this regard, the Hungarian government stated that such a measure has come so that Europe does not need to restore internal border controls. As State Secretary Bence Retvaripointed said at the time, despite the fact that the fence on the Hungarian-Serbian border protects the security of the EU and Europeans, the EU has not managed to reimburse even two percent of the 600 billion forints or EUR1.5 billion that its construction cost. According to him, Hungary was a net contributor to the EU, as it fulfilled all its payment obligations.

That same month, Slovak authorities sent a total of 40 police officers to Hungary in an effort to bolster the defense of the Hungarian-Serbian border[3], as the latter faces an increased flow of illegal migration. The Slovak Interior Ministry revealed that the country has sent police officers to Hungary's Davod region. The Ministry also emphasised that the policemen will carry out their work in joint patrols with the Hungarian policemen on the border with Serbia.

Moreover, data provided by the Hungarian government shows that last year the number of people caught trying to enter Hungary illegally increased to 269,254 from 122,239 in 2021[4], marking a daily average of 738 attempts.

Based on this data, in 2022 the country's police managed to arrest a total of 1,924 people smugglers compared to 1,277 caught in 2021.

At the same time, Hungary's Chief Security Adviser Gyorgy Bakondi revealed that the number of people smugglers detained in Hungarian prisons there are now 2,500, who come from 73 different countries.

References

1. ^ SchengenVisaInfo.com (www.schengenvisainfo.com)
2. ^ the Hungarian authorities decided to increase the height of the border fence along the border with Serbia (www.schengenvisainfo.com)
3. ^ Slovak authorities sent a total of 40 police officers to Hungary in an effort to bolster the defense of the Hungarian-Serbian border (www.schengenvisainfo.com)
4. ^ last year the number of people caught trying to enter Hungary illegally increased to 269,254 from 122,239 in 2021 (www.schengenvisainfo.com)