VIENNA – Austria will extend its cross-border crackdown on illegal migration and human smuggling after reporting a dramatic fall in asylum-related arrests along the frontier with Hungary, reported by ORF News.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced Tuesday in Nickelsdorf that “Operation Fox,” launched in December 2022, has sharply reduced both migrant apprehensions and smuggler detentions. “Clever, hard-working, determined — and above all successful — that is the spirit of ‘Operation Fox,’” Karner said. “We have turned the tide.”
When the operation began, authorities frequently intercepted large groups of mostly young men and seized numerous smuggling vehicles. Now, Karner said, “that’s largely over,” crediting joint Austrian-Hungarian police patrols, targeted enforcement, and early intervention measures.
Official figures show last week’s 74 migrant apprehensions compare with 2,567 in the same week three years ago. Smuggler arrests in Hungary dropped from 166 in 2023 to 33 in 2024, with only 12 so far this year. In Burgenland, there have been three arrests in 2025.
In Nickelsdorf, four unused refugee tents will soon be dismantled, though a container camp and a police operations hall will remain in place. Karner cautioned against complacency: “These numbers are not a reason to rest on our laurels. We will continue working with the same determination.”
Federal Police Director Michael Takacs said Austrian officers are also deployed at the Hungary–Serbia border and with EU border agency Frontex, aiming to intercept smugglers before they reach Austria. Since the operation’s launch, some 3,200 migrants and over 200 smugglers have been stopped on Hungarian soil.
Burgenland’s deputy police chief praised the effort as “a success story,” recalling that 81,000 migrants were caught in 2022. But opposition lawmaker Roland Fürst of the SPÖ argued the drop in asylum numbers is due to smugglers shifting to other routes, urging “less show and more concrete action” from the government.
Operation Fox will remain staffed with around 40 Austrian officers, adjusted as needed, Karner said: “We will not let up.”
