Viktor Orbán’s New “Pro-Refugee” Stance Is Opportunistic — and Still Racist
Ahead of today’s Hungarian election, Viktor Orbán has boasted of his solidarity with Ukrainian refugees. The anti-immigrant premier has folded to public sympathy for Ukrainians — but the welcome doesn’t extend to everyone fleeing war.
Refugees from Ukraine waiting to disembark at Hungary’s Záhony train station. (Courtesy of author)
On March 3, a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán traveled to his country’s frontier with Ukraine to meet arriving refugees. In the small border town of Beregsurány, he visited makeshift refugee camps and shook hands with Ukrainians fleeing the war, as well as the Hungarians helping them.
“Nobody will be left uncared for,” Orbán told the gathered journalists.
He praised volunteers’ work and said Hungary would help to both resettle Ukrainian refugees and return home those from “third countries” such as India and Nigeria — whether they wanted to go or not.
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