Hungary Criminalizes Aiding Illegal Immigrants

Asylum seekers crossing the border between Hungary and Serbia in 2015. Few migrants have tried to enter Hungary in the years since, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban continues to present migration as a threat to the fabric of society.CreditSergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

The Hungarian Parliament approved a package of laws on Wednesday that criminalizes the act of helping undocumented migrants and creates a parallel court system that some fear will be used for politically sensitive cases, accelerating efforts by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to transform the country into what he calls an “illiberal democracy.”