What does that mean?
It means that the European Union provides funds to migrants who have requested refugee or asylum status – many of whom have immigrated illegally – using the money of EU citizens. The Orbán Government has argued that such programs reinforce the pull factors encouraging more migrants to come and, what’s worse, disregard the safety and security of EU citizens.
Sadly, the case of the Syrian national, F. Hassan, a suspected terrorist and officer of IS, proves our point. He was apprehended at Liszt Ferenc Airport in Budapest, trying to enter the country illegally and attempting to also bring a companion in illegally. F. Hassan, it turned out, was issued one of those EU taxpayer-funded prepaid debit cards after entering Greece. With his EU-funded cash card, F. Hassan would have been able to get 500 euros out of an ATM every month (that is, by the way, well above today’s gross minimum wage in Hungary). Read more here.
The Government called on the Commission to say whether it knew about the migrant bank cards and whether it was aware that the prepaid debit card effectively funded a suspected “executioner of the Islamic State,” as Government Spokesperson István Hollik said.
Their answers were not so reassuring.
The Commission admitted that F. Hassan was indeed given a prepaid debit card after being admitted to Greece. The Commission shirked responsibility, however, by saying that the funds are passed to UNHCR, which is responsible for running the program. The essential and disturbing question remains: How could a suspected terrorist enter Europe and the Schengen Area and receive a prepaid bank card financed by EU citizens? How many more cases are there like this?
In October of last year, a Slovenian media outlet, citing police in Croatia, reported that many migrants who had been apprehended after crossing illegally into Croatia, had prepaid debit cards in their possession, cards issued by Mastercard. See photo here and on the official UNHCR website here.
In fact, Mastercard announced in 2016 that they were issuing prepaid debit cards to “provide refugees with mobility, flexibility and dignity.”
And that’s not all.
One year later, Mastercard publicized in a press release the launch of a partnership with George Soros’s “Humanitarian Ventures” to “catalyze and accelerate economic and social development for vulnerable communities around the world, especially refugees and migrants.”
Is the European Commission essentially funding the same effort?
It’s outrageous that the pro-immigration interests in Brussels continue to put their agenda ahead of the security of Europe’s citizens, and they’re doing it with our taxpayer money.