Hungary Plans To Seal Border With Croatia To Stop The Flow Of Refugees

Hungry is sealing its border with Croatia to prevent refugees from entering, the country's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Friday.

The country is doing so, Szijjarto said, because the European Union has yet to set a complete plan for the refugee migration.

Hungary finished building a razor-wire fence along the border to discourage crossing.

The country already prevented crossing along the Serbian border, and it hopes this new block will make the number of refugees entering Hungary "slow to a trickle."

Hungary has been the most vocal and forceful European country trying to prevent refugees from moving.

Last month, Hungarian authorities blocked refugees from entering the main train station in Budapest, causing chaos and protest, and then tried to force refugees to go to camps rather than move on to their intended destination.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made direct comments about not wanting Muslim refugees to enter the country.

In an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, to be published in full tomorrow, Orban said,

Spiritually, Islam was never part of Europe. It's the rulebook of another world.

Over 380,000 migrants entered Hungary this year. Most do not want to stay in Hungary. The country is on the refugees' path to countries, like Germany, which are relatively welcoming to refugees. Closing the Croatian border would further impede refugees' already fraught journeys.

Most of the refugees are fleeing conflict and human rights abuses in Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea. Others are from Libya, Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kosovo, Iraq, Iran and Somalia, according to BBC.

Late Thursday, the European Union agreed on a plan to attempt to cooperate with Turkey on the migration crisis that intends to keep more refugees in Turkey. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is going to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this weekend.

Citations: Hungary To Seal Off Border With Croatia (Sky News), Police block refugees from Hungary train station (Al Jazeera), Migrants Refuse To Leave Train At Refugee Camp In Hungary (NPR), Hungarian Prime Minister Tells Muslim Refugees 'Do Not Come' (TIME), Islam was 'never part of Europe': Hungary's Orban (Yahoo! News), Closing the Back Door to Europe (The New York Times), Why is EU struggling with migrants and asylum? (BBC), European leaders offer Turkey 'action plan' on migration crisis (The Guardian)