Closed Hungarian border prompts migrant bottleneck in the Balkans

Slovenia said Sunday it will take in only 2,500 migrants per day, half of what neighboring Croatia has asked for, in a move contributing to the latest bottleneck in the European migrant crisis. Hungary closed its border to Croatia at midnight Saturday, leaving Croatia to reroute migrants through Slovenia.

Each day, thousands of migrants — including refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq — have been trying to cross through the Balkans in the hopes of reaching Western Europe, where many nations are also already at capacity.

Slovenia said the quota can't be higher because Austria, the next stop on the path many migrants are taking, has capped its daily intake at 1,500, BBC News reports.

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Dozens of buses with migrants were backed up in Serbia on Sunday, waiting to enter Croatia and then Slovenia. "We are waiting here four hours on the bus," a man from Afghanistan told The Associated Press. "The weather is too cold. We wear lots of shirts. The children are also in the cold. No food."