Number of Illegal Migrants and Violence at Border on the Rise

The number of illegal border crossers has more than doubled this year compared to last year, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser on internal security told public broadcaster M1. According to György Bakondi, the situation is becoming increasingly complicated, because immigrants are now arriving from different countries than before.

This year, almost 265,000 border crossers were apprehended at the southern border of Hungary, compared to 114,000 in the same period last year. According to György Bakondi, migrants are now also arriving from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, with the presence of Indians being the most worrying. The reason is that their homeland is a huge country from which huge numbers of people can depart, and this is unprecedented in the illegal migration movement.

According to the adviser,

migration is unlikely to fall, and the main victims will be the European economy and security.

In terms of economic problems, one only has to look at Germany, which has seen mass influxes of migrants in recent years. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that while the country is a magnet for migrants, there is still a labor shortage, and therefore a need for working people. However, it is not possible to employ asylum seekers since they have no skills or knowledge of the language, meaning that they will probably end up being supported by the state. According to the paper, only one third of the 800,000 Syrian and Afghan nationals of working age living in Germany have tax-paying jobs, despite the fact that most of them arrived more than five years ago.

Meanwhile, data from Hungary clearly shows an increase in migration along the southern border – from where migrants typically continue their journey towards Western Europe, including Germany. Over the past weekend, Hungarian police took action against 776 border crossers.

In addition, not only has the number of migrants been increasing recently, but also the number of human smugglers that have been apprehended.

This year, there have also been a very high number of car accidents in Hungary involving smugglers and migrants.

At the beginning of September, four people died and several others injured on Thursday morning outside Kapuvár after a car drove into the riverbed from the Répce bridge. In another accident at the beginning of August, three people were killed and eleven injured in an accident near Bócsa, 120 kilometers south of the Hungarian capital. The driver was a Georgian national who did not give way at an intersection and collided with another car after, which the vehicles caught on fire. Two of the border-crossers died at the scene, stuck inside the burning vehicle. The above-mentioned incidents were only two of the most serious ones, but there were many more smaller accidents involving migrants and smugglers in Hungary.

Another change this year is that migrants are becoming increasingly violent at the border, and in many cases they are armed and not afraid to use their weapons. At the beginning of November, police officers chased a car full of migrants driven by smugglers on the outskirts of Budapest.

The smugglers shot at the police several times on the busy road, but fortunately no one was injured.

Moreover, there have also been several armed incidents on the Serbian side of the southern border this year. In November, the body of a young man was found near Horgoš, just a few kilometers from the crossing point. A gunshot wound was found on his body, but he had no documents, so they could not identify his origin.

As it can be seen from the official numbers and the severity of incidents involving migrants, it is safe to say that migratory pressure is not easing at all. After this year’s record-breaking numbers, it is not clear yet what to expect next year, but seeing the upward trend, Europe might need to prepare for a huge wave of illegal immigrants in 2023.

Featured photo via Facebook/Magyarország Kormánya