Refugees in the Midst of Tragedies: Fatalities at the Serbia-Hungary Border

Hungarian police reported on Tuesday that seven people died and four were injured when a car with Serbian license plates, carrying migrants, crashed into a house late Monday. The accident occurred after the driver failed to stop at a police checkpoint in "Morahalom," near the Serbian border. The police added that they arrested the driver and legal proceedings will begin against him on charges of human trafficking and causing a fatal mass accident, according to Reuters. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is a vocal opponent of immigration and had proposed last June a complete ban on migrants entering Europe for two years. The right-wing politician warned of what he described as waves of migrants flowing into Europe, stating people should be content with where they were born and should not consider migration. In December 2020, the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungarian asylum legislation was illegal because it did not provide procedures for those wishing to apply for asylum. In 2015, Hungary erected a large wire barrier with both Serbia and Croatia to prevent asylum seekers from entering from abroad.