New restrictions thwart thousands of migrants at borders

Efforts by countries in the Balkans to seal their borders or otherwise regulate the flow of migrants have created a backlog of thousands of people trying to make the journey into Europe, the U.N. refugee agency said Monday.

“It’s like a big river of people, and if you stop the flow, you will have floods somewhere. That’s what’s happening now,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Melita Sunjic.

Hungary sealed its border with Croatia at midnight on Friday, leaving 10,000 people either stranded or re-routed to an alternate path west through Croatia and Slovenia. Slovenia has said it would take 2,500 people per day, but about 5,000 arrived from Croatia on Monday, Reuters reported.

Croatia was limiting new arrivals and Serbia said it might start doing the same.

Children look out from a tent at a migrant camp in Opatovac, Croatia, on Oct. 19. Photo by Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Meanwhile, temperatures are getting colder in the Balkans, and in the next few weeks, freezing rain and snow are expected. Clogged migration routes will mean people will need to stay longer in border camps with mostly unheated tents.

“For now, it is OK. But in 20 days or so, it is going to be very cold here,” Uros Jovanovic, the manager of a processing center near the Serbo-Croatian border, told The New York Times.

On Monday’s PBS NewsHour, special correspondent Malcom Brabant reports on the migrant situation.

Follow @NewsHourWorld