Increasing Number of Migrants Arriving from Romania

The migratory pressure on Hungary’s borders is not easing, and an increasing number of people are arriving from Romania in addition to the southern border with Serbia. However, authorities in Hungary and Romania are working closely together to control illegal migration at the Hungarian-Romanian border, said Bondar Marin, head of the Romanian Oradea Regional Border Police Inspectorate, in Nagylak, Hungary on Monday.

At a joint press conference with the Hungarian head of the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters, the general said that in the first eight months of the year more than 4,000 border crossers had been arrested, 1,500 of them in August.

The larger groups typically try to cross the border by hiding in trucks, mainly at the Csanádpalota motorway border crossing and at the road crossing point at Nagylak. Around 2,600 border crossers had been arrested at these crossings by the end of August, the general said.

At the Csanádpalota crossing point, border guards with dogs have been deployed to reinforce controls, mainly to check lorries in order to screen out border crossers hiding in there.

Thanks to the measure introduced on September 13, more than 100 border crossers hiding in trucks have been detected, said Bondar Marin.

Cooperation between the police forces of the two countries in controlling the green border is also excellent. A joint patrol service is operating on the territory of both countries at a depth of 10 kilometers, the general said.

Hungarian Brigadier General Zsolt Polyák, head of the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters, said that Romanian and Hungarian police are constantly assessing the situation and are jointly taking all possible measures to combat illegal migration. In the territory of the Csongrád-Csanád County Police Headquarters, the number of border violations committed by the covert method has almost doubled this year compared to last year.

Just a few days ago, 72 illegal immigrants were found in Hungary in a Romanian-registered truck which was carrying tires from Romania to Spain, at least according to official documents.

When the police stopped the vehicle and pulled aside the tarpaulin, they discovered dozens of foreigners in the cargo area.

This was not the first case in the last few months in Hungary. In July, 75 migrants claiming to be Bangladeshi and Pakistani nationals were found in a truck also driven by a Romanian driver at the same Romanian-Hungarian border. According to the documents, that vehicle was transporting shoes from Romania to Italy.

Featured photo via MTI/Miniszterelnöki Kabinetiroda/Vadnai Szabolcs