How do you stop migrants? In Hungary, with ‘border hunters’

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a fan of Donald Trump’s immigration plan, has asked Hungarians to reject quotas for hosting refugees in a referendum Sunday that may solidify his power

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Migrants cross through a hole in a barbed-wire fence an they run into the forest at the Hungarian-Serbian border near Roszke in September 2015. File photo: AFP

Published: 6:44pm, 2 Oct 2016Updated: 11:16pm, 2 Oct 2016

During a recruiting fair at a police proving ground here, a gaggle of teenagers ogled a display of machine guns, batons and riot gear. A glossy flier held out the promise of rugged patrols in 4x4s, super-cool body-heat detecting equipment, night-vision goggles and migrant-sniffing dogs.

Because that’s how Hungary’s new “border hunters” roll.

This nation that once sat behind the Iron Curtain is offering a rare glimpse into a world where the build-a-wall mentality to keep migrants out rules the land. On Sunday, Hungarians were casting ballots in a national referendum on European Union quotas for accepting asylum seekers, with polls showing an overwhelming majority of likely voters poised to reject them.

They may as well hang a sign at the border, critics say: Welcome to Hungary - the migrant’s dystopia.

Donald Trump may want a wall, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban - a vocal fan of Trump’s immigration plan - has built one. Now, the nation is launching a massive recruitment drive for 3,000 “border hunters.” Their mission: beef up an already formidable migrant blockade, turning Hungary into a global model of how to prevent even the most determined asylum seeker from slipping through.

“Hungary does not need a single migrant for the economy to work or the population to sustain itself or for the country to have a future,” said Orban, who likened migration to “poison”. He added, “Every single migrant poses a public security and terror risk.”