The country’s Government has implemented strict rules at its borders to prevent illegal migration.
The country’s Government has implemented strict rules at its borders to prevent illegal migration (Image: Getty)
One major European country has successfully reduced its illegal migration figures to almost zero thanks to its security measures at its 109-mile border with Serbia. Established during the 2015 European migrant crisis, with the aim of ensuring border security, Hungary installed a 9.6-mile-wide and 15-foot-high double fence, topped with coils of barbed wire.
Border police continuously patrol the fences, looking for suspicious activity, aided by thousands of surveillance cameras and a continuous length of the fibre optic cable that alerts officers to any interference with the fences. The number of illegal entries into Hungary declined significantly after the barrier was completed, as it effectively prevented unauthorised entry into Hungary. In fact, the number of attempted crossings decreased from over 100,000 in 2022 to just 12,000 last year.
Hungary declared the EU “too slow to act”, and started construction of the barrier in June 2015 (Image: Getty)
While most attempts are stopped by police, those migrants who do successfully make it through the fence are not allowed to remain in Hungary. According to GB News, Police Colonel Levente Bauko said that Hungarian law allows the police to use force to detain migrants and return them through a gate in the fence to Serbia.
In 2015, hundreds of thousands of Arabs would cross the border into Hungary, seeking entry into the EU and access to Western European social security systems. Hungary declared the EU “too slow to act”, started construction of the barrier in June, and it was completed the following September. Hungary then went on to construct barriers on minor sections of the Croatian border that are not separated by the Drava River.
According to Col. Bauko, migrants used ladders to scale the fences, but after authorities increased the height of these structures, they began digging tunnels underneath them. In 2022, border guards discovered 30 completed tunnels.
More recently, gangs began cutting holes in the wire, prompting authorities to reinforce the fences with steel. Guards told The People’s Channel that they are also able to use drones and can call on helicopters if needed.
Under Viktor Orban’s legal changes, the number of asylum claims from 122,000 in 2016 to just 25 in 2024 (Image: Getty)
In 2015, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that “Hungarians should decide who they want to live with,” reinforcing Hungary’s rejection of EU migration policies. Under his legal changes, anyone seeking asylum in Hungary must do so from an Embassy in another country. This “embassy first” policy has reduced the number of asylum claims from 122,000 in 2016 to just 25 in 2024.
Hungary’s Interior Minister described its actions as the “strictest immigration law in the EU”.
However, the measures incurred the wrath of the EU, with Brussels slapping the Hungarian Government with a €200million (£174million) fine in addition to a daily penalty of €1 million (£868,000). Nevertheless, the Hungarian Government believes that this money is well spent to mitigate the negative economic and social consequences of mass migration that have affected the UK.
The revelation of Hungary’s border security impressed many GB News readers.
“Wish I could afford to go and live there and feel safe again as I used to in this country once!” one commented, while another said: “Watch and learn, Starmer“.
A third wrote: “A country that most Brits would think are behind us. But are obviously way far ahead of us on criminal immigration.”
