“The interests and security of the Hungarian people are the most important to the Hungarian Government, and accordingly we will not be letting a single illegal immigrant into the country until their asylum request is processed”, Chief Press Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tamás Menczer told Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday.

The Press Chief was reacting to the fact that at a press conference on Monday United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Cécile Pouilly said: “The UNHCR is deeply concerned at a new law which has been voted this morning at the Hungarian Parliament and which foresees the mandatory detention of all asylum seekers, including many children, for the entire length of the asylum procedure”. “This new law violates Hungary’s obligations under international and EU laws, and will have a terrible physical and psychological impact on women, children and men who have already greatly suffered”, she continued.

With relation to the statements, Mr. Menczer said: “Following the liberal politicians and the organisations financed by foreign monies, this time it the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees who is incapable of understanding that everyone must abide by the law”. “The interests and security of the Hungarian people are the most important to the Hungarian Government, and accordingly we will not be letting a single illegal immigrant into the country until their asylum request is processed”, he explained.

The idea that “Hungary should disregard both Hungarian and international law and allow illegal immigrants, about whom we know nothing and who have travelled through a host of safe countries just because they want to live in Germany or Sweden, into the country” is nonsense, he said. Anyone who supports this is in fact “supporting anarchy and chaos” in opposition to security and law and order, the Foreign Ministry’s Press Chief declared.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)