Photo: Radio-Television of Vojvodina, Serbia’s Ministry of Interior

November 12, 2024 – Despite field data and official statistics from the Hungarian police indicating that over the past seven days, 800 individuals from Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Pakistan were prevented from crossing into Hungary and were pushed back by Hungarian police into Serbia, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić stated in the latest meeting with Hungarian Interior Ministers that irregular migration toward Hungary has been halted. “Regarding irregular migration, we have almost entirely succeeded in stopping the flow of illegal migration toward Hungary..,” Dačić emphasized.

During the Budapest Process (Budapest Ministerial Conference) held on November 11, 2024, in Hungary, Dačić highlighted that one of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ (MUP) priority actions is to create a strategy for establishing a safer route for migrant movements and setting up an effective return system for foreign nationals who no longer meet the conditions for legal residence in the Republic of Serbia.

On Tuesday, November 12, 2024, the day after this meeting, the number of migrants prevented and pushed back from Hungary into Serbia significantly dropped compared to previous days, with around 20 individuals stopped from crossing the protective barrier or entering Hungary in truck trailers. By the following day, November 13, over 100 individuals were intercepted and prevented from entering.

In the communities along Serbia’s border with Hungary, residents report a noticeable absence of migrants. The nature of smuggling has shifted, now involving much shorter migrant stays in the wooded border areas, which has influenced local perceptions of migrant presence since residents no longer observe people moving through the local community. Each night, from midnight to 3 a.m., dozens of individuals attempt to cross through the barrier within the deep forests surrounding Subotica (from Kelebija, Makova sedmica through Radanovačka Forest and Tresetište). Migrants stay temporarily in “squats,” which are locations where vehicles bring groups from Belgrade, and from there, they proceed on foot with smugglers to the protective barrier, which smugglers cut to enable passage into Hungary.

On the ground, the collaboration between the Serbian police, Frontex, and Hungarian police is evident, especially in the Tresetište forest, where they patrol regularly, exchanging information on potential migrant movements. Following these alerts, MUP officers locate and transport individuals by police vans to the station, then relocate them to the country’s south—a practice that has consistently marked this year.