As many as 95% of all immigrants seeking to enter Europe through Hungary’s border are illegal immigrants. Only 5% are genuine refugees. So says Márk Vargha, senior analyst and spokesman for the Migration Research Institute of Hungary, which researches migration and immigration in Hungary and Europe.
That is why the institute advocates that the research to determine whether an immigrant is a true refugee should be done outside the European Union.
“It costs 13,000 euros in Denmark to send an illegal migrant back to his country of origin, often Africa. Often such an illegal refugee tries to re-enter the EU, and Denmark or another country has to incur huge costs again to send the illegal immigrant back,” Vargha explained. “From that money you can help many more people in the region. For 100 euros you can offer a child in Africa a year’s education. You can offer 130 children a future for the same money.”
According to the Hungarian researcher, a European debate on this thorny issue is crucial. He fears that because of hunger in Africa – because the war between Russia and Ukraine prevents Africa from receiving grain from Ukraine – there will soon be many more immigrants at the European border.
“If just 1 percent of all Africans come to Europe because of hunger, there will be over 12 million people on our doorstep here. How will we ever get them housed in Europe? We can never handle that. Asia and Africa are struggling with over population. We must decide now to keep the selection outside our EU borders or the EU will never be able to pay for it.”
See our full interview with Márk Vargha, coming on June 15th.
