Emergency declared over migrant influx + video

A state of emergency has been declared in a district of southern Slovakia due to the massive flow of illegal migrants. Slovak politicians have so far kept their heads in the sand, although for two years now, Slovak authorities have been making efforts to curb the influx of migrant with the help of joint Hungarian-Slovak border patrolling.

202200727 magyar szerb hatar migransok havran zoltan magyar nemzet Fotó: Havran Zoltán

Southern Slovakia is experiencing an unprecedented surge in the number of migrants. While Slovak authorities registered 11 thousand migrants in 2022, around 10 thousand migrants were registered in one month in the Velky Krtis (Nagykurtos) district alone. Due to the situation, a state of emergency was declared in the Velky Krtis district at the end of last week, the Hungarian-language news portal ma7 in Slovakia reported. The migrants are housed crowded together in inhumane conditions in a disused production hall, where they are waiting for their fate to change for the better, while their numbers are steadily growing.

Illegal migrants openly crossing the Slovak border in front of local news outlet Uj Szo's camera (Source: Uj Szo)

Hungary's neighbor in the the north is facing a domestic political crisis in the wake of the massive influx of migrants, with migration having become a key issue in the election campaign in Slovakia.

Some Slovak parties blame Hungary, and some directly blame Viktor Orban, for the situation. But politicians attacking Hungary have so far kept their heads in the sand regarding migration issues,

being convinced that it was/is reasonable that the Slovak law in place allows automatic registration for migrants, without establishing their identity or where from and why they come.

Illegal migrants normally arrive undocumented: their documents are either taken from them by people smugglers or destroyed by the migrants themselves, so they are registered on the basis of what they claim. 

Some politicians try to exploit the situation to their advantage. Yesterday, Laszlo Solyom, a politician from the Hid/Most party, which did not pass the parliamentary threshold in the last election,  told Bumm.sk that they should focus on protecting the Schengen borders. 

"Let's send Hungary police and troops! We call on the government to start talks with the Hungarian, Czech and Austrian sides without delay, Laszlo Solyom said. "This is a common problem, which affects the people of Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria, and we can only solve it together", he added.

Hungary is not only open to cooperation, but this has been a daily practice at police level for years.

Slovakia has also been struggling with illegal migration since 2015, and for more than two years now, joint Hungarian-Slovak patrols have been trying to tackle a worsening situation. Police cooperation between the two countries is at a high level, regulating for example the issue of cross-border tracking of migrants. This allows both Slovak and Hungarian police to track and apprehend criminals, including people smugglers, on either side of the border. There are plenty of examples of this.

As reported by the Slovak ma7  news portal, a joint Hungarian-Slovak patrolling unit noticed and followed a people-smuggling vehicle crossing the border and reaching as far as Bratislava (Pozsony), where they eventually managed to capture the smugglers, who were trying to flee on foot.  The vehicle was carrying 25 migrants, who were registered and allowed to stay in Slovakia. Criminal proceedings have been launched against the human smugglers.

However, there is a loophole in the regulations. Under the Slovak law, only a smuggler who crosses the state border can be prosecuted; if migrants are dropped off at the border and arrive in Slovakia crossing the border on their own, the smuggler cannot be prosecuted. Experience shows that criminals have adopted this practice.

The Western Balkan route has definitely changed. In the past, people smugglers led migrants mainly to Austria, taking them across or around Hungary's border fence, but thanks to the increasingly successful joint action by Hungarian and Austrian law enforcement, this route has become much more difficult for organized criminals.

It is due to this and not to political decisions, that the smugglers picked Slovakia as a destination, according to the police. Human smugglers bring illegal migrants to Hungary across the Serbia-Romania border and not across the border fence, and then they proceed towards north, to Slovakia.

Cover photo: Illegal migrants on their way to cross the Serbia-Hungary border (Photo: Zoltan Havran)