Illegal mass migration is being organised by the same players in Europe and the United States using the same set of tools, Miklós Szánthó, head of the Center for Fundamental Rights, said in Washington, DC on Wednesday after reaching an agreement with the America First Policy Institute. The Hungarian think-tank and AFPI have agreed to draw up a package of political proposals aimed at uncovering the causes of illegal migration, identifying those promoting it and presenting the political, ideological and cultural background of the means they use. The challenges posed by illegal migration serve as common ground, just as it has brought Hungarian and American conservatives together in thinking that the nation should come first, Szánthó told the “No Borders, No Nation” roundtable discussion held at the Hungarian embassy.
Szánthó outlined the ongoing legal debates on migration in Europe, emphasising that immigration laws are national competencies under European Union law. He said physical barriers on the border and “legal barriers” in the form of laws were both important elements of border protection.
AFPI executive director and former acting US secretary of homeland security Chad Wolf said that immigrants to the US were no longer coming from just Latin America, but migrants from 150 countries were now showing up at the Mexican border. The authorities register some 170,000-200,000 illegal entrants a month, but estimates say that another 70,000-80,000 people cross the border without any kind of registration, he said.