Record number stream into Hungary ahead of new migrant law

BUDAPEST Hungary registered more than 10,000 migrants after they crossed from Serbia over the weekend, police data showed Monday, a day before the country was set to seal its border to new arrivals.

On Sunday 5,809 people, mostly Syrian refugees, were registered. It was a new single-day high, breaking the day-old record of 4,330.

Thousands streamed toward northern Serbia, hoping to make it to Hungary and then to Western Europe before new measures kick in that effectively close the border to migrants.

As of Tuesday, a new Hungarian law will raise border trespassing from a minor offense to a criminal act punishable with up to three years in prison.

Cutting the fence that is now in place along Hungary’s 175-kilometer border with Serbia will carry up to five years behind bars.

Also on Tuesday, conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet could declare a crisis situation, paving the way for parliament to allow army patrols to reinforce police in the border zone.

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