RefugeesHungarian PM: “Round up” all illegal immigrants in EU, ship them to guarded camps “on an island or North Africa”

Published 22 September 2016

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s outspoken prime minister, has urged the EU to “round up” all illegal immigrants on the continent and deport them to guarded camps “on an island or North Africa.” His comments are not likely to ease the growing tensions with EU governments, which have already strongly criticized Hungary’s hard line on immigration, saying Hungary’s truculence flouts both international law and fundamental European values.

Hungarian prime minister seeks expulsion of all Syrian refugees // Source: theconversation.com

Viktor Orban, Hungary’s outspoken prime minister, has urged the EU to “round up” all illegal immigrants on the continent and deport them to guarded camps “on an island or North Africa.”

His comments are not likely to ease the growing tensions with EU governments, which have already strongly criticized Hungary’s hard line on immigration, saying Hungary’s truculence flouts both international law and fundamental European values.

The Daily Express reports that Orban made the comments as part of broadside against Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, saying it was unfair for Berlin to demand that EU member states accept a quota of refugees each. The EU said that the quota would reflect the size each’s country’s population and GNP.

This could be an island, it could be a coastal area in North Africa, but the security and supplies of that area must be guaranteed by the EU in its own interest,” Orban told Origo, a Hungarian news Web site, in an interview published on Thursday.

Those who came illegally must be rounded up and shipped out,” he said.

We must set up large refugee camps outside the EU, with armed security and financial support provided by the Union. Everyone who came illegally must return there. There they can file for asylum,” he added. 

Orban said that the guarded refugee camp, or camps, outside of Europe was a “grave moral task” which was the only alternative to migrants staying in Europe and being relocated around the continent.

There is only one solution that befits everyone, including us who are not yet in trouble because we defended ourselves and countries like Germany which are in trouble: Taking migrants out of the Union.”

Orban stressed that the external borders of the EU must be strengthened to prevent a repetition of 2015, when 9,000 migrants a day crossed the border from Serbia to Hungary at the height of the crisis.

He said: “Borders must be used, because they protect us.

“Some imagine a globe without borders…I am one of those who would not like to see the civilization of the world change.”

Orban has made many controversial remarks about refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Europe, describing them as “poison” and as a threat to Europe’s “Cristian identity.”

Orban also said Hungary would not take in refugees in the number assigned to it by the EU – and a member of the European Parliament from Orban’s party suggested putting pigs’ heads on poles along Hungary’s border to deter Muslim refugees from trying to enter the country.

Hungary will hold a referendum on 2 October on whether Hungary should accept or reject the EU refugee resettlement quota.

The Express notes that Hungarian media have reported that if the government’s anti-immigration position receives a large majority in 2 October referendum, Orban’s next move would be to demand fundamental amendments to the Lisbon Treaty, which serves as the constitutional base for the EU.

A growing number of EU governments have called on the EU governing bodies to take action against Hungary for defying EU laws and fundamental European values.

On Wednesday, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden publicly called for Hungary to be punished over its policies and statements on the immigration crisis.

The five Nordic states co-signed a letter expressing their “great concern” at Budapest’s refusal to act by the Dublin rules, under which refugees must seek asylum in the first EU country they enter.

They called on Dimitris Avramopoulo, the EU migration commissioner, to “take measures” promptly against Budapest’s violation of EU law.

A couple of weeks ago, Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, said Hungary should be suspended from the EU for violating democratic core values and treating refugees like “animals.”

Austria is now threatening to bring a case against Hungary in the European courts.

Ahead of the 2 October referendum, the Hungarian government has sent a brochure to millions of Hungarian voters, in which it explains its anti-immigration policies and urges voters to support these policies in the referendum. Several European governments – and international human rights organizations – blasted the brochure as racist and xenophobic in tone, and for containing patently false claims.

The brochure, for example, claims that there are 900 “no-go areas” in major European cities where large immigrations populations impose their own traditional laws and where the country’s laws are not being enforced because the police are afraid to go into these areas.

The British embassy in Budapest on Thursday raised concerns with the Hungarian government over the claims in the brochure, with embassy officials describing the claims about no-go areas in England as “pure fiction.”

This leaflet is clearly inaccurate,” the Foreign Office said. “There are no areas in the U.K. in which the laws of the U.K. cannot be enforced.”