Nearly 600 migrants were apprehended on Saturday, July 30, in Burgenland, an Austrian state on the borders of Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia. This is only the latest batch of thousands of migrants that have poured into Austria in recent weeks, prompting authorities to sound the alarm as another migration wave crashes through Europe.
Over 2,400 migrants were already taken into custody in Burgenland last week, and 2,029 from the week prior, nearly all of whom entered the nation through Hungary.
In contrast, only 549 migrants were caught in the same area in the final seven days of April.
"This is a new peak value, we have never had so many arrests in a single day this year and not since 2015, the year of the great wave of refugees," a spokesperson from border operations said.
Over 27,800 apprehensions have already been recorded in Burgenland so far this year, which is up from 19,938 in 2021. The wave is now at the highest levels since the "refugee crisis" and police and military at the border are now reportedly overwhelmed.
"The processing capacities in Burgenland are currently no longer sufficient, more than 200 asylum applications had to be processed in other federal states over the weekend," officials warned.
Authorities are also expecting numbers to continue climbing as more migrants arrive in the European Union (EU) from the east and south. A local investigator said "millions" of migrants are waiting hundreds of kilometers to the east in camps and hiding places to escape. The preparations, however, are already in full swing.
"The rush will come," the investigator said.
Meanwhile, Switzerland is also seeing an escalation in illegal border crossings, primarily by the Austrian border. Swiss authorities said they arrested 3,468 migrants illegally present in the country in June, which is nearly triple the number of apprehensions in the same period last year. (Related: Hordes of immigrants now suing Germany for not giving them free government handouts quickly enough.)
Most of the migrants crossing into Switzerland came from its eastern border, which lies relatively close to the Balkan Peninsula, where roughly half of all illegal migrations into the EU have taken place in 2022.
In mid-2020, Europol predicted a flood of migration from third-world countries, which were heavily affected by global lockdowns and economic deceleration.
Hungary wants close cooperation with Austria against illegal migrants
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in a joint press conference with Burgenland Governor Hans Peter Doskozil that the value of good and well-balanced cooperation is even higher in out-of-the-ordinary periods like the current one.
Szijjarto noted that there are a few challenges that state borders are able to stop, and therefore it is important to develop cross-border cooperation based on mutual respect, such as relations between Hungary and Burgenland. "When we talk about the neighborly relations between Hungary and Austria, we might as well talk about the neighborly relations between Hungary and Burgenland," he said.
Hungary and Burgenland share a lot of product exports, with 181 Hungarian companies operating on both sides of the Hungarian-Burgenland border.
"It is, therefore, all the more important that the border should be easily crossable by those that do it in line with the law and with full respect of legal regulations, and at the same time, we must stop those that want to cross into the other country in violation of regulations," Szijjarto explained. (Related: Ukrainians fleeing Russian invasion now showing up at U.S. border as Biden ending Title 42.)
Among his main concerns is the development of the Lake Ferto area, which is a joint goal and responsibility of both borders. The increasing migratory pressure is also a joint challenge, as authorities have already stopped 130,000 illegal migrants at Hungary's southern border this year.
"We will not let illegal migrants enter despite getting only two percent financial support from the European Union for this European task so far," Szijjarto said.
Visit Migrants.news for more information about migrants fleeing to EU countries.
Watch the video below to know more about illegal immigrants entering Europe.
This video is from the Puretrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com.
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