Washington, D.C. (March 11, 2022) – The video and transcript are now available of a recent panel discussion sponsored jointly by the Center for Immigration Studies and the Hungarian Migration Research Institute, examining international asylum law, its application in both Europe and the United States, and its impact on national sovereignty. With the Russia-Ukraine conflict raging and with millions of refugees potentially fleeing Ukraine, it is the perfect time for serious analysis and conversation about current policies that indiscriminately provide benefits to all border-crossing strangers versus more-targeted policies that would be more consistent with the spirit of the original international refugee agreements.
The European Union experienced the recent weaponization of migrants by Belarus, as well as by Mediterranean neighbors, triggering a willingness to consider a security-first approach to migration. Now that a genuine refugee crisis is unfolding on its doorstep, the EU has responded with one voice, including even Hungary and Poland, which are the toughest on irregular migration. Hungary itself has already opened its borders to nearly 200,000 refugees since the conflict began in next-door Ukraine, making the perspective of Hungarian migration experts particularly relevant.
Scholars from the Center and MRI examine immigration laws and policies that are being swallowed by the asylum exception and provide solutions to “The Hijacking of Asylum.”
Panel 1: The Hijacking of Asylum
Viktor Marsai, Research Director (MRI)
The Soft Underbelly of Europe under Siege – The Instrumentalization of Migration by the EU’s Mediterranean Neighbors
Todd Bensman, Senior National Security Fellow (CIS)
The Almost Familial Tie between Asylum and Terrorist Infiltration
Szabolcs Janik, Operations Director (MRI)
Blackmailed by Europe’s Last Dictator – The 2021–2022 Belarus–European Union Border Crisis
Panel 2: Responses in the U.S. and Europe
Kristof Gyorgy Veres, Andrassy National Security Fellow (MRI)
The Empire Finally Strikes Back? – The Response of the Member States and the EU to the Instrumentalization of Migration
Andrew Arthur, Resident Fellow in Law and Policy (CIS)
Biden Administration’s Attempts to Expand Asylum
Mark Krikorian, Executive Director (CIS)
Asylum: An Idea Whose Time Has Passed
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