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Hungary Begins Construction On Second Border Wall

REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh - RTSQDPQ

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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Hungary’s government has begun construction of a double border wall along its Serbian border, its government announced Monday.

Hungary already has a barbed wire fence along its border, which has effectively curbed the flow of migrants from active war zones through its country. Prior to the border wall’s construction in 2015, approximately 13,000 migrants were entering the country daily. Hungary intentionally built its border fence several feet within its sovereign border, because international law dictates that it cannot expel migrants from its borders.

Hungary currently allows 10 asylum seekers per day into the country, as thousands of potential seekers crowd the Serbian border. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also indicated Feb. 7 that the government would detain refugees in temporary shelters, not allowing them to travel within Hungary until their asylum status is processed.

“We are going to introduce a new measure — no migrants, not even those who have achieved their request for asylum, can move freely until there is a final, legal decision whether they are entitled to political asylum or refugee status. They will not be entitled to move freely in the country,” Orban’s spokesman elaborated,.

Hungary is also in the midst of suing the EU for trying to force it to resettle nearly 1,200 migrants, joining EU member states Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland.

“You have to reinforce your borders, establish the rules that only legal migrants can enter the European Union, otherwise it’s not going to work,” Orban’s spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told reporters in early February.

Orban is a strict opponent of allowing refugees into Hungary, previously telling reporters “every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk.”

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