State Secretary Bence Rétvári said Hungarian police have so far prevented more than 10,000 illegal border crossings during their service abroad, which is "a huge number".

Rétvári told the farewell ceremony of a Hungarian police contingent setting off to work at the Bulgaria-Turkey border that Hungarian police and border guards had been doing "exemplary service" for ten years, showing how best to act against illegal migrants.

He said that the US had introduced strict border measures similar to Hungary's border protection, and since Donald Trump's return to office, over 152,000 people had been deported from US territory. He added that the US was more successful in deportations than the European Union, with 8-9 of every 10 attempts being unsuccessful in the EU.

"This is why border protection is important, and this is why the work you do is invaluable," he said.

Rétvári said the new German government had also introduced border controls at the external borders of Germany, which he said was "the same as what we Hungarians have been doing for ten years". The difference, he added, was that whereas EU leaders had accepted Germany's border protection "and demonstrated an understanding attitude, Hungary has been fined 1 million euros per day".