Emotions sway from forlorn to triumphant and back again on this refugee-besieged frontier, as thousands of exhausted trekkers achieve one goal only to face another daunting challenge. Many already have slipped through Syria’s border into Turkey lugging children or elderly parents, crossed the choppy seas to Greece and navigated the Balkan nations of Macedonia and Serbia by foot, bus or train. No razor-wire fence is going to stop them from entering Hungary, the gateway to the 28-nation European Union, and beginning what could be a yearslong legal battle to prove their right to refugee status. Over the past year Hungary has become the most popular eastern back door for Arabs, Asians and Africans to reach the heart of the EU without facing further passport or visa checks. Hungarian police in sports utility vehicles gun their engines on the dirt road beside the razor wire, trying to catch the refugees before they escape into fields of corn and sunflowers. Many opt to pay smugglers to drive them surreptitiously through Hungary, despite the deaths last week of 71 refugees in a Hungarian truck abandoned along an Austrian highway.
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