The government promised twice to detain and prosecute illegal migrants, but in the last few years, they did the opposite, while border protection costs surged.

While Hungarian perpetrators are facing long prison sentences for people smuggling, their foreign sponsors walked free thanks to a goverment decree. We interview two former members of an Iraqi-led trafficking gang.

Illegal migrants moving in groups, increasingly violent human traffickers, wrecked cars on the roadside, rubbish covering forests on the southern border.

There are nearly 600,000 foreigners living in Hungary, but a significant proportion of them are Hungarians born across the border.

Employment agencies with ties to the governing Fidesz-party – known for its xenophobic and anti-immigration campaigning – are recruiting migrant workers overseas on behalf of Hungarian employers.

Some are reportedly taking advantage of the war situation to facilitate the entry of non-EU citizens across the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.