U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced at a news
conference in Berlin on Sunday that the U.S. will increase the total number of
refugees it will admit each year, to 85,000 next fiscal year and 100,000 the
year after.
Meanwhile, the
main border crossing station between Hungary and Serbia reopened on Sunday,
Hungarian government officials confirmed. The closure of the Roszke border
crossing caused thousands of asylum seekers over the past week to try to travel
through Croatia instead.
"The
migration pressure which is falling heavy on Europe has created extraordinary
situations in Hungary as well as in Serbia," said Hungarian Interior
Minister Sandor Pinter. "We have devised a solution to this extraordinary
situation together, and we attempted to resolve it together."
Pinter voiced
his regret that it was only possible to resolve the situation by closing the
border crossing stations for a fixed term. But he stressed that Hungary and
Serbia are good neighbors and said the reopening of the border crossing station
demonstrates the determination of the two countries to work together in crisis
situations.
Nearly 1,600
migrants left the Croatian town of Tovarnik for the Hungarian border Sunday
evening, according to the Croatian Interior Ministry. Croatian authorities are
expecting more migrants at the border crossing. Transportation and temporary
accommodations are being organized by the authorities to accommodate the new
arrivals.
For days,
hundreds of refugees from the Middle East made the final leg of their trip
through Hungary on foot, walking the 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to the Austrian
border in the middle of the night, unsure of what was going to happen to them
when they got there.
After a train
ride from the Croatian-Hungarian border, about 300 to 400 people were trekking
through the dark early Sunday with Hungarian police as their guides through the
village of Hegyeshalom.
It had already
been a long day for the refugees. They had been on the train since the morning.
There was very little food or water. When they stepped off the train, they had
no idea where they were or where they were going.
Austria lay
ahead. Thousands a day before them have poured over that border from Hungary.
Migrants drowned, missing, in two incidents at sea
The loss of life continued elsewhere as
refugees and migrants forged ahead on the dangerous journey from the Middle
East and Africa to Europe.
The bodies of at
least 14 refugees were recovered and another 24 refugees are missing in
separate incidents in the Aegean Sea on Sunday.
At least 13
people -- including 5 children and an infant -- died when their boat heading to
Greece collided with a cargo vessel in the Aegean Sea off the coast of western
Turkey, according to a statement released on Sunday from the Turkish coast
guard and Turkish state media.
Many of these
passengers were believed to be Syrian, the Turkish coast guard said. Eight of
the passengers were rescued and taken to hospital in Turkey. The coast guard
dispatched a helicopter, five intervention boats and a search and rescue ship
to try to rescue people involved in the incident.
In a separate
but nearby incident, the Greek coast guard continues to search for up to 24
refugees who went missing when their boat sank off the eastern Aegean island of
Lesbos, a Greek coast guard press officer told CNN.
The refugees
were spotted by a coast guard helicopter earlier on Sunday and a vessel was
dispatched to the area. The Greek coast guard said 48 refugees were aboard the
boat when it left Turkey, 24 of whom were rescued. The body of a little girl
was recovered but the Greek coast guard was not able to confirm if she was on
the same boat or if she drowned in a separate incident.
Europe muddled
In the EU centers of Brussels, Belgium,
and Luxembourg, member countries remain deadlocked and divided over a common
policy to shoulder the burden.
Farther along
the migrant route, Germany is appearing less of a beacon of hope than it did
just days ago. The government is working to reduce aid to asylum seekers in the
country and deport more quickly those who don't meet the official designation
of political refugee.
Asylum homes are
reportedly stretched beyond capacity.
And in spite of
sympathy for refugees from the vast majority of Germans, bands of far-right
protesters have shouted hate and venom at arriving refugees, throwing bottles
at their buses. Dozens of empty, waiting shelters have been torched by
arsonists.
At the other end
of the migrant trail, many more thousands of weary, hungry, helpless and
forsaken men, women and children pour in from the war-ravaged lands of Syria,
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hunger and
misery are driving Syrian refugees in the Middle East out of tent cities
pitched in neighboring countries that have taken in millions of them. As
international generosity has worn thin, the U.N.'s World Food Programme has had
to progressively cut food rations for lack of funding.
Great migration
Europe is facing its largest refugee and
migrant crisis since World War II. People fleeing the violence in Syria account
for the largest portion of those arriving on European shores, but there are
many others on the move from African nations and elsewhere.
Nearly 475,000
migrants have crossed by boat into Europe seeking safety and sustenance so far
this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than
2,800 have drowned or disappeared during the perilous journey.
Nearly 350,000
of the desperate travelers have landed in Greece, and more than 120,000 in
Italy. From there, they try to reach the more sought-after EU nations for
migrants, such as Germany and Sweden.
Germany is
expecting 1 million asylum applications this year and has a backlog of more
than 260,000 cases.
France has
agreed to take tens of thousands and Britain 20,000. Switzerland said that if
Europe can come to agreement, it will take 1,500 refugees. Most of Eastern
Europe has resisted committing to a number.
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