Hungary exposed to unprecedented migration pressure in 2015, says BAH head

Budapest (MTI) – Hungary was exposed to unprecedented migration pressure last year, with the number of illegal migrants exceeding 414,000, the director of Hungary’s immigration office BAH said on Monday.

Zsuzsanna Vegh told a press conference that the immigration office had warned the European Union multiple times that the Balkan route would be a significant one for illegal migrants, but EU decision makers failed to take the risk seriously.

Vegh said that among the illegal migrants arriving in Europe through the western Balkan route, there were both genuine refugees coming from war zones and migrants who had set off for Europe for economic reasons, although some in the latter category also originated from the same crisis-ridden countries.

In the first half of the year, illegal entrants tended to submit asylum requests, whereas in the second half of the year most migrants did not, and in many cases refused to cooperate with authorities altogether.

Most illegal entrants came from the Middle East, central and south Asia, northern and central Africa and the western Balkans, Vegh said. Most asylum seekers claimed to be Syrian, with Afghan, Kosovar, Pakistani and Iraqi nationals rounding out 90 percent. BAH registered 8,000 unaccompanied migrant children last year, most of whom chose not to accept the help of Hungary’s child protection services and left the country almost immediately.