The Latest: Hungary official: Obama wants Muslims in Europe
Updated May 19, 2016

BRUSSELS (AP) — The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):

4:15 p.m.The chief of staff for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says President Barack Obama and the United States are in favor of illegal migration "in the interests of having as many Muslims as possible in Europe."

Janos Lazar said Thursday that Hungarian-born American financier George Soros was a standard-bearer for Obama's immigration policies for Europe and that "certain American groups" want Europe to be "diluted ... so Europe and America can cooperate without restraint.

"Lazar called Soros a patron of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the current U.S. presidential candidate. He said Soros was a Democratic Party supporter who was "ready to step up" against Orban.

Obama and the Clintons have criticized Orban for his perceived authoritarianism and efforts to crack down on civic groups like those advocating for Roma or gay rights. Orban considers some of those groups "paid foreign activists."

___2:15 p.m.

The European Union says traffickers are taking advantage of Europe's migrant crisis to target certain types of people, often for sexual exploitation, with children and Nigerian girls and women among the most vulnerable.

An EU report into trafficking released Thursday said that crime gangs focus on children because they are easy to recruit and replace, with young migrants more exposed as they often travel long distances alone.

The report also noted "a worryingly sharp increase in Nigerian woman and girls leaving Libya" has been seen.The report says from January to September 2015, more than 4,370 Nigerian women and girls headed for Europe, compared to 1,008 the previous year. The International Organization for Migration says around 80 percent of them could be victims of trafficking.

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