At a conference held at the Consulate General of Hungary in New York on May 5, Hungarian and American experts on the Roma met to discuss the integration of the European minority into mainstream European societies and possible solutions to resolve this issue. Viktor Polgár, the main force behind the conference, commented on the many articles about Hungarian Gypsies published in the American papers in recent months, and indicated the time was right for a discussion of this issue. Polgár explained that the issue of the Roma and associated delinquency is not just affecting Hungary – it's a more complex question. Hundreds of experts, diplomats, scientists, and human rights activists attended the conference.

Polgár emphasized that the conference was about European Gypsies, not just those in Hungary. He pointed out that Roma history has never been recorded, and identified the root cause for that terrible omission: the fact that they do not have a country, therefore, as a race they have no historical identity. Many of the conference attendees considered it a debt to the Roma.

Rabbi Scheiner conjured the European churches to help with Roma integration. The Museum of the American Indian's director talked about the differences between the socialization of the Indians and the Gypsies. He also criticized the politics of the United States in the 1950s, when they pulled indigenous children from their cultural environment and cut their hair, in an attempt to "Americanize" them.

Daniel Nadel, foreign affairs officer at the U.S. Department of State, commented that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the conference, and emphasized that helping to solve the Roma issue was a high priority of the Obama administration. Nadel indicated that Washington has many tools it can offer, including public and classified diplomacy programs for overseas visitors, and government assistance for education and trainings.

At a panel discussion organized by the Foreign Policy Association and Lelkiismeret Felhívása, Hungarian guests Julia Szalai, a scientific researcher at Central European University, and Anna Csongor, director of Autonómia Alapítvány, discussed possible approaches to the issue. Szalai stated the importance for the U.S. State Department to do serious scrutiny of the situation for Roma people across many European regions and opined that such an integral approach would bring good results. Csongor alluded to the Harlem Children's Zone program as a successful model that started as a private initiative and caught the attention of politicians.