Top EU court hits Hungary over ‘Stop Soros’ migrant law

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s top court ruled Tuesday that Hungary broke EU law by making it a criminal offense for people or organizations to help migrants and refugees apply for asylum, in a new legal blow to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government. The European Court of Justice said Hungary had failed to fulfill its EU obligations “by criminalizing, in its national law, the actions of any person who, in connection with an organizing activity, provides assistance in respect of the making or lodging of an application for asylum in its territory.” The Luxembourg-based court said the legislation restricts “the right of access to applicants for international protection and the right to communicate with those persons,” as well as the right of the migrants themselves to consult a legal advisor or counselor. The court said the law cannot be justified by the aim of preventing “the assistance of misuse of the asylum procedure and of illegal immigration based on deception.” The ECJ also found that Hungary had failed to respect EU rules when its authorities rejected an application for asylum because the person had arrived from another member nation when their life or well-being was not in danger. The referral came after the court found in December that Hungary had failed to respect EU law by denying people entering the country without authorization the right to apply for asylum and by unlawfully detaining them in “transit zones” on the country’s border with Serbia.