page_title: European migrant crisis
section_title: Hungary
hierarchical_section_title: European migrant crisis / Developments / Hungary
caption_attribution_description: LE Eithne Operations 28 June 2015
context_page_description: The European migrant crisis, also known as the refugee crisis, was a period characterised by high numbers of people arriving in the European Union overseas from across the Mediterranean Sea or overland through Southeast Europe. In March 2019, the European Commission declared the migrant crisis to be at an end.
  The migrant crisis was part of a pattern of increased immigration to Europe from other continents which began in the mid-20th century. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees observed that from January 2015 to March 2016, the top three nationalities among over one million refugees arriving from the Mediterranean Sea were Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi.
  Many refugees that arrived in Italy and Greece came from countries where armed conflict was ongoing or which otherwise were considered to be "refugee-producing" and for whom international protection is needed. However, a smaller proportion was from elsewhere, and for many of these individuals, the term "migrant" would be correct. Immigrants included asylum seekers and economic migrants.
context_section_description: Hungary finished phase one of the construction of a fence on its southern border with Serbia in late August 2015, according to the Hungarian Ministry of Defence. The fence consists of three strands of NATO razor wire spanning 175 kilometers long. The next phase involved building a wire fence approximately 4 meters high. In August, Minister of the Prime Minister's Office János Lázár described Hungary as being "under siege from human traffickers" and announced that the government would "defend this stretch of [their] borders with force", deploying 9,000 police to keep out undocumented migrants.
  
  Hungary's Prime Minister Orbán wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "Europe's response is madness. We must acknowledge that the European Union's misguided immigration policy is responsible for this situation". Orbán also demanded an official EU list of "safe countries" to which migrants can be returned. He said that "the moral, human thing is to make clear: 'Please don't come. Why do you have to go from Turkey to Europe? Turkey is a safe country. Stay there. It's risky to come'". Hungary adopted a list of countries deemed safe for transiting purposes: if an asylum seeker had passed through those countries, it is assumed that they could have found asylum there, and therefore would be ineligible for asylum in Hungary. Orbán spoke at the United Nations General Assembly and called for a "global quota" system to distribute refugees to all countries. 
  Migrants taking the Western Balkan route crossed into the Schengen Area first in Greece. In June 2015, Hungary said it was contemplating countermeasures against the influx of illegal immigrants from Serbia, a non-EU and non-Schengen state.
  On 17 June 2015, the Hungarian government announced the construction of a 4-metre-high (13 ft), 175-kilometre-long (109 mi) fence along its southern border with Serbia. The European Commission warned EU members against steps that contravene EU obligations and urged members like Hungary to find other ways to cope with an influx of illegal migrants. The first phase of the construction was completed at the end of August and Orbán announced that it would be fully completed by the end of 2015.
  On 3 September 2015, Orbán defended the country's management of the migrant situation internally, notwithstanding chaos at Budapest's main international rail station, while criticising Germany and Europe overall for not dissuading migrants from entering Europe. On the same day, Hungarian police allowed migrants aboard a train in Budapest heading west before stopping it in Bicske. The police tried to transport migrants to a registration camp there, but the migrants refused to cooperate and remained on the train, which did not travel further west.
  On 4 September 2015, about a thousand of the migrants at Railway Station East (Keleti Pályaudvar) set off by foot toward Austria and Germany. On the same night, the Hungarian government decided to send buses to transport illegal migrants to Hegyeshalom, on the border with Austria.
  On 14 September 2015, Hungarian police reportedly blocked the route from Serbia and heavily manned the regular entry point with officers, soldiers, and helicopters. They sealed the border with razor wire and detained migrants crossing the border illegally with the threat of arrest and criminal charges. On 15 September 2015, Hungary sealed its border with Serbia. Several hundred migrants broke the fence between Hungary and Serbia twice on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, and threw chunks of concrete and water bottles over the fence. Hungarian police retaliated with tear gas and water cannons at Horgoš 2 border crossing. Belgrade protested these actions. A 20-year-old Iraqi refugee was sentenced to deportation and a one-year entry ban in Hungary, as well as €80 in court fees, according to the new law put into action a few days before. On 18 September, Hungary started building another fence along the border with Croatia, a fellow EU member state, but not part of the Schengen Area. Within two weeks, tens of thousands of refugees crossed from Croatia in
caption: Rescued male migrants are brought to southern Italian ports, 28 June 2015
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