Organized human trafficking gangs are smuggling juvenile migrants into Western Europe, Bence Rétvári, the parliamentary state secretary at the Ministry of Human Capacities has claimed.
Rétvári said the "indoctrinated” migrant youths, housed in a reception center for minors at Fót, near Budapest, are taken on to Western Europe funded by their families.
Over the past year, 3,500 individuals claiming to be below the age of 18 have been housed in the reception center but none possessed any documentation to prove their age, Rétvári said.
He also argued that an increasing number of migrants are aware of the high standard of care provided to juvenile migrants in Hungary, such as WiFi access, which enables them to contact relatives at home who then pay human traffickers to organize the remainder of their journey to Western Europe, he said.
He also revealed that authorities have found brochures informing migrants on how to be housed in the Fót reception center. This means claiming to be under 18 years of age.