Hungary is making preparations for the mass return of Hungarian Roma asylum-seekers from Canada, the Human Resources Minister told Wednesday’s Eszak Magyarorszag regional daily.
Canada recently changed the law with the outcome that Hungarian asylum-seekers will sent back in an expedited procedure. The law is expected to take effect later this month.
Zoltan Balog said the immigration law recently amended by Canada would take some time to implement, so it was unlikely there would be a sudden influx of Roma back to Hungary, and that there would be enough time to prepare for their arrival.
The Human Resources Ministry said earlier in a statement that many Hungarian nationals who had immigrated to Canada had been motivated by the prospect of financial benefits offered under Canada’s immigration law.
Balog told the paper that anyone who had misled Roma about their prospects in Canada before dumping them there would be held to account.
“Unless we do so, we will continue to face a situation where certain people motivated by financial gain create a problem and the task to tackle them will be left for the state. This practice must stop,” Balog told the paper.
Imre Helyes, counsellor at the Hungarian embassy in Ottawa, told MTI earlier that around 4,500 Hungarians had applied for refugee status in the country in 2011, and 700 did so in the first three months this year.
