Director-General of the Office of Immigration and Nationality Zsuzsanna Végh said at a press conference that “last year was an extraordinary one; Hungary experienced unprecedented migration pressure”.
Although Hungary had previously indicated on various international forums that the significance of the Balkan route in illegal migration would increase, European Union decision-makers did not regard these indications as a serious risk. However, an extreme increase was experienced last year with over 414 thousand people crossing the border illegally, she said.
The illegal immigrants arriving via the Western Balkan route included true refugees from crisis zones, but also people who set out for Europe for economic reasons, Ms. Végh added.
During the first half of the year the number of submitted asylum requestspractically “went hand-in-hand” with the relevant immigration proceedings, but by early summer the scissors opened up and illegal immigrants no longer submitted requests for asylum and in fact expressly refused to cooperate with the authorities and be registered, she continued.
According to November figures, last year Hungary registered the second highest number of asylum requests within the European Union (177 thousand) and was in first place among the 28 member states with regard to the number of asylum-seekers per one thousand population, the Director-General explained.
Most illegal immigrants arrived from the Near East, Central and South Asia and North and Central Africa, as well as from the Western Balkans. The majority of asylum-seekers were Syrian – or maintained they were Syrian – Afghan, Kosovan, Pakistani an Iraqi, together making up 90 percent of the total number of asylum-seekers. Early in the year, the majority of asylum-seekers were from Kosovo, but the balance later quickly shifted towards immigrants from crisis zones.
Compared to previous years, there was marked increase in the number of minors arriving without adult supervision; 8 thousand were registered last year, the majority of whom left the country shortly afterwards.
The vast majority of asylum proceedings (152 thousand) had to be terminated because the asylum-seeker in question had moved to an unknown location. 15 percent of asylum-seekers whose proceedings were duly conducted were granted international protection, primarily Syrians, Afghans and Somalians.
The Immigration Office is spending some 5.5 billion forints (EUR 17.4M) specifically on providing food, accommodation, healthcare services and benefit payments to refugees.
The authorities did their utmost to record fingerprints to be included in the international database and to prepare biometric photographs, record personal data and also increase the capacity of receiving stations, the Director-General said.
She reminded the press that riots broke out in Röszke on 16 September despite the fact that migrants could have asked for asylum in the transit zone just a few metres away; they elected not to.
“The problems associated with migration have been temporarily solved” thanks to Government measures including new legislation, the temporary border security fence, the closing of the green border and the amendment of asylum regulations; the migration route has changed and the flow of migration is currently bypassing Hungary, Ms. Végh indicated. The number of illegal border crossers has fallen drastically, with less than a thousand people detained during the last two months of the year. The number of asylum-seekers has also dropped significantly to only around 5500 for the last three months of the year; during the summer it took only 2-3 weeks for a similar number of asylum requests to accumulate.
At the press conference, Parliamentary State Secretary Károly Kontrát from the Ministry of Interior stressed that the Government had kept to a determined migrant policy from the very beginning and was one of the first to implement measures to avert the danger. And these measures protected not only Hungary’s borders, but also those of the European Union.
The Office of Immigration and Nationality began 2015 with a budget of 9.7 billion forints (EUR 30.7M), but was given a further HUF 10bn by the Government during the course of the year, he said, noting that it was unfortunate that the European Union had supported Hungary with much less funding than other affected EU countries had received.
Mr. Kontrát stressed that the changes in legislation had enabled asylum proceedings to be conducted more rapidly and strictly. The State Secretary said the Office had worked successfully and efficiently, but noted that “we must remain vigilant”, because the migration crisis has not been solved and we cannot know how the situation might develop in future.
He drew attention to the fact that while thousands of migrants are entering Europe via Greece and while the EU does not succeed in protecting the Greek border, the problem will continue. Predictions suggest that a further one million illegal immigrants could arrive in Europe this year, he pointed out.
In reply to a question regarding the fact that Austria has reinstated border controls, Mr. Kontrát explained this indicates they have realised that they cannot maintain their original standpoint. The decision is still fresh and we are yet to assess the results, but border controls are certainly making it more difficult for illegal immigrants to enter Austria, he added.
Zsuzsanna Végh said in reply to a question from the press that the other EU member states are also experiencing the same problem of asylum-seekers disappearing to unknown locations without waiting for their asylum proceedings to be completed, which is why so few immigrants are being sent back to their country of registration, such as Hungary, and if they are sent back they have a tendency to disappear again and end up “wandering between EU member states”.
With reference to the incident at the receiving station in Kiskunhalas during the course of which immigrants attacked Hungarian police officers, she stressed that such extraordinary events occurred over one-hundred times during the course of last year, and the latest case would also be investigated according to procedure.