We cannot exist without strong borders

The Center for Fundamental Rights and the America First Policy Institute are jointly calling for a halt to the current, modern-day wave of migration.

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

Mass, uncontrolled migration is a universal human crime that violates the rights, legitimate interests and well-being of all concerned in the destination countries, the countries of origin, the transit countries and the migrants themselves. Despite this obvious fact, a vast network of ideologically motivated forces has emerged in recent decades under the banner of the "open society" to perpetuate this crime. The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and the Center for Fundamental Rights have teamed up to produce a policy study aimed at uncovering the causes of mass immigration, exposing the promoters of migration and the means they use, as well as showing possible solutions and the broader political-ideological-cultural context.

Considered one of the most influential think tanks in North America, AFPI was founded in 2021 by members of Donald Trump's administration - including former director of the president's National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow - and prominent conservative experts with the undisguised aim of preparing the legal, intellectual and policy groundwork for President Trump's return and successful administration after the 2024 elections. This means that some or all of this study could become official US policy if the American electorate votes in Donald Trump again in the forthcoming presidential elections.

A joint study by AFPI and the Center for Fundamental Rights outlines the congruent experiences of the United States and Hungary regarding border security and uncontrolled mass migration. It highlights how mass migration is a political tool of the Left to change the cultural landscape and undermine conservative values.

One of the central challenges facing the West is the demographic crisis, which manifests itself in declining birth rates and in aging populations. To alleviate the demographic winter, the solution is obvious: have more children. To achieve this, it is necessary to introduce family-friendly policies, which we, in Hungary, have already started to successfully implement in the last decade. Liberals and leftists, however, recommend increasing the pace of migration. Some among them may be urging this "only" because they are trying to find an immediate solution to the problem - even though there is none -, others may want to gain an electoral advantage from new immigrants, but there are also some more malicious actors among the left-wing forces pushing for migration.

George Soros has created a highly influential network of people masquerading as "civilians", who ally themselves with other actors of obscure backgrounds and no public accountability with the stated intention of convincing Western societies that "diversity is strength", despite the West's millennia of history providing ample and convincing evidence to the contrary. Their goal goes far beyond gaining unfair advantage in elections; this postmodern leftist ideology and its adherents seek to undermine the economic foundations of nations, state sovereignty and representative democracy, with the ultimate aim of radically transforming Western civilization beyond recognition.

A healthy immune response of the public to this dangerous phenomenon is hampered by a number of factors, including a mainstream liberal press and a political culture that ignores the serious crises directly caused by the immigration of masses of people from foreign cultures, often incompatible with our own, or conceals the actual causes of these crises. Good examples are the wave of violence that has recently swept through France and the growing anti-Semitism in Western Europe.

Hungary and other countries that want to curb mass migration face serious obstacles when confronted with the neoliberal approach of the EU institutions, which see economic migration as a "universal human right". The federalist movement in Brussels is also trying to use immigration to weaken the position of conservatives in national elections. And the accusation of "xenophobia" is used as a political club to browbeat member states that resist efforts to create a "United States of Europe".

Despite this, Hungary has successfully resisted all previous waves of migration, and AFPI was eager to find out how it has managed to do so despite strong political headwinds. One of the key findings of the study is that strong borders work and are capable of posing a barrier to migration. Hungary, faced with the sudden onset of the migration crisis in 2015, decided to build a multi-faceted, high-tech equipment reinforced fence system to allow for continuous surveillance and a coordinated response by border guards. As a result, illegal border crossings have been reduced to a fraction of their previous levels as soon as the border barrier was activated.

At the same time, it also turned out that the physical border protection infrastructure alone is not sufficient. In Hungary, the package of measures known as the "legal border closure" - a set of laws that authorize the national authorities, the police and immigration officials to act quickly and decisively - also played a prominent role in alleviating migration pressure. Formally declaring the situation caused by mass migration a crisis situation allowed the Hungarian government and the Parliament to rev up the strategic decision-making process. Keeping asylum seekers abroad while their application was being assessed was also an important tool.

Patient and at times highly sophisticated Hungarian diplomacy was also a key factor in managing to fend off intensifying pressure from the Soros network and the Brussels federalists. Through clear and consistent communication, Budapest has persuaded its southern neighbors to see efforts to stop migration at the border not as an attempt to undermine their security, but as a means to promote common interests. These countries have since become allies in the fight against mass migration. 

But Hungary's singular successes in and of themselves cannot save Europe. A paradigm shift is needed on the continent, and this requires a political turnaround, as the EU's institutions and bureaucrats are major contributors to the crisis. Conservative, sovereignist parties need to launch an effective, coordinated campaign in the next European elections in order to win at least a blocking minority in both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. In the meantime, a cross-border coalition of conservative civil society must be organised and pressure must be brought to bear on the EU institutions regarding border protection.

The author is a geopolitical analyst at the Center for Fundamental Rights

Cover photo: Illegal migration (Photo: Zoltan Havran)