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Hungary is locking up migrants in shipping containers to stop border crossings

A tough new law in Hungary allows migrants to be detained indefinitely — and housed in shipping containers — until their cases are heard.

A new law in Hungary sends a clear message to would-be-border crossers: Don’t even try.

The tough, new measure gives border authorities the power to detain asylum-seekers indefinitely and house them in converted shipping containers until their cases are heard. The country’s hardline Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, says it’ll save Europe. But the U.N. says it’s illegal.

At the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, as many as 13,000 people crossed the border in Hungary everyday. But now, few succeed. Currently, at least 8,000 refugees and migrants are stuck in Serbian camps waiting to cross into Hungary, which only allows 10 people per day to enter legally.

“Depressing, stressful, frustrating” is how Ashar Raza, a refugee from Iran, described his seven-month stay in a Serbian camp. “It’s difficult to wait.”

This segment originally aired March 28, 2017 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.