Europe Under Siege from People-Smuggling Gangs

by Soeren Kern  •  January 7, 2020 at 5:00 am

     

• Current conditions in Hungary are ripe for a repeat of the migration crisis in 2015 and... the country is now in a "state of crisis".... More than 100,000 migrants are now gathered in the Western Balkans and although "the situation is still under control," it is "beginning to look like the big crisis in 2015." — Szilárd Németh, a senior official at Hungary's Defense Ministry, December 1, 2019.

• Illegal immigration throughout Europe continues unabated. In France, for instance, nearly 20,000 migrants have been arrested so far in 2019, according to the police website France Bleu, which also reported that 189 people smugglers have been arrested since January 1.

• In Britain, The Telegraph newspaper reported that Albanian people smugglers were posting advertisements on social media platforms, including Facebook, promoting their ability to get people into Europe. The ads are accompanied by TripAdvisor-style feedback comments from "satisfied" customers.... people smuggling gangs generate profits of up to £6 billion (€7 billion; $8 billion) a year...

• The light sentences reflect the leniency of the Spanish justice system, which appears to encourage, rather than deter, people smuggling gangs.

People smuggling gangs generate profits of up to £6 billion ($8 billion) a year, with migrants often paying more than £10,000 ($13,000) to secure illegal entry into the UK, according to the deputy director of Britain's National Crime Agency. Pictured: Members of an international people smuggling gang at a courthouse in Kecskemet, Hungary on June 21, 2017, during their trial in connection with deaths of 71 migrants found in an abandoned truck in Austria in 2015. (Photo by Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images)

Hungarian police recently discovered two tunnels used to smuggle migrants into Hungary from Serbia. The tunnels were found at the same time that Hungarian police reported a five-fold increase in the number of migrants attempting to enter Hungary.

Hungary is not alone: Border authorities in countries across the European Union are struggling to stanch renewed flows of illegal migration. More than 126,500 migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East illegally entered the EU during 2019, according to the International Organization for Migration.

On November 29, Hungarian police detained 44 migrants who were found walking along a highway near Ásotthalom, a village in southern Hungary. Police later learned that the migrants had crossed into Hungary from Serbia by crawling through a 34-meter (112-foot) hand-dug tunnel.

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Is Cannabis Really Worth This?

January 7, 2020 at 4:00 am

     

As legalized marijuana becomes epidemic across the country, Gatestone Institute will be posing serious questions throughout the coming year regarding its potential impact on road and occupational safety; its effect on children and our country's overall health, the role of states to protect society from its potential abuse and what lessons can be applied from the tragedy of driving "under the influence".