I saw how easily migrants can breach the EU's flimsy first line of defence

Telegraph

6 hours ago

As the sun sets and the mosquitoes multiply, a small group of young men quietly gathers at a cluster of abandoned stone farmhouses in the northern flatlands of Serbia, roughly a mile from the border with Hungary.
Tonight, led by two facilitators, the 10 plan to reach the border on foot, then cross it by climbing over several layers of fencing fortified with barbed wire. This is the next step on their long journey to flee Taliban rule in Afghanistan, with a few hoping to make it all the way to the UK.
It will require quickly scaling a ladder that will be hauled in for the purpose, avoiding detection by the many surveillance cameras that dot the border fence, and staying out of sight of police from Serbia, Hungary and Frontex – the EU's border force.
This is the scenario unfolding daily, in secret, at multiple points in the north and west of Serbia along the border with Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia.
These countries form part of the Western Balkans route for migrants, popular with those fleeing Syria and Afghanistan, who typically travel overland via Bulgaria and Turkey, and, in some cases, Iran.
Many of them then make their way across Europe to the northern coast of France, where they board small boats and cross the English Channel before landing on the UK's shores.
In 2024, Syrians and Afghans were the top two nationalities of migrants arriving via small boats, accounting for nearly a third of all recorded Channel crossings, according to government data.
Russia also has a part to play in fuelling migration, with evidence pointing to Moscow physically moving people towards the EU's borders and supporting smugglers, as a way to destabilise Europe.
Efforts to address the Western Balkans route have been hailed as a success, with Frontex reporting a 78 per cent drop in irregular border crossings last year.
However, experts say that the decrease is not quite as dramatic as trumpeted, because much of the crossing activity is not captured in the data, with many migrants moving undetected.
As The Telegraph found, the route remains active, particularly along the Serbia-Hungary border.
It is happening even as Sir Keir Starmer continues to pledge to tackle illegal migration and ' smash the gangs ' by funding foreign law enforcement. The Prime Minister announced greater co-operation to resolve the escalating immigration and asylum crisis during a visit to Albania in May.
Some migrants choose to pay smugglers to travel on the more circuitous – and therefore less expensive – route to cross into Bosnia, then Croatia, an EU member state.
Those with no funds try an even more dangerous option – toclamber across the undersides of bridges that span a river demarcating the border between Serbia and Bosnia.
'There is some decrease, definitely, but it's not in such a high percentage as presented,' said Milica Svabic, a lawyer with KlikAktiv, an NGO in Belgrade that provides services to migrants, from legal information to humanitarian aid.
'People are just not as visible as they were before,' she said.
Some authorities have also pointed to a decline in the number of people staying at official migrant camps run by the Serbian government.
But many migrants told The Telegraph they were deliberately choosing to stay away from state-run facilities out of fear that they would be deported by Serbia, where the government is under pressure from other European countries which have hardened their migration policies.
Gone, too, are the sprawling tent cities that used to cover border areas and the hordes of migrants resting in public parks, spots that remain well-known to police and are routinely subject to checks. Migrants detained during such operations also risk being deported.
On the move
Instead, migrants are sleeping in abandoned farmhouses and factories by night, and staying nomadic by day to avoid being discovered by the police.
Signs of people on the move were plentiful. In Serbia's borderlands, the ground was dotted with discarded clothes, old SIM cards, and empty cans of energy drinks – a cheap, quick way to re-fuel while on the go. Darkened firepits used to cook meagre meals were also a common sight.
In one migrant hideout, a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste were stashed inside an old fireplace, and a Koran was perched on a window sill.
Nobody was present, but a covered pot contained recently cooked rice.
Nearby, in a wooded area, The Telegraph found a trio of young men from Afghanistan sheltering under large, leafy trees. Their shoes, drenched from heavy rain the day before, were drying nearby in the sun.
The eldest, a 25 year-old who had worked in the local police force under the previous Afghan government, was forced to escape after the Taliban resumed power in 2021.
'We didn't have any democracy,' said Farid, whose name has been changed at his request for fear of retribution. 'The Taliban was even controlling whether we could shave: they wanted us to grow long beards.
'My family is asking me for a better future, so I'm giving it my all, trying my best. All I think about is them.'
He added: 'I have no other choice but to go: the Taliban will kill me if I'm sent back. My son is seven years old, and he begs me to move him out of Afghanistan, too.'
Out of money and in hiding
Two years ago, Farid paid smugglers $3,000 (£2,200) to get him from Afghanistan to Iran, where he waited about half a year before then moving on to Turkey.
There, he worked unofficially at a plastics factory, saving money for the next leg of his journey – $4,000 (£2,900) to travel from Turkey through Bulgaria and into Serbia. It took several months to amass the funds, as the factory boss sometimes withheld his wages.
In all, it took an exhausting 17 days to move across three countries, mostly on foot and in secret, with the help of a guide.
Now, with the money they had saved spent, and hiding near the border with Hungary, he and the two others, both 18, were mulling the possibility of scaling the border fence into the EU on their own.
A best-case scenario would be if they could find a section of fence that had already been cut by others – the easiest way to get across quickly. If that failed, they would have no choice but to turn again to smugglers for help.
Migrants, like those in Farid's group, are generally moving in much smaller numbers in an effort to evade the authorities. In previous years, it was common to encounter groups of up to 70 people walking toward the border. Now, a large group would consist of around 20 people.
Meeting points along the border, designated by smugglers, begin to get busier as the sun sets – with the last hours of daylight used for preparation.
The Telegraph observed a group of migrants dragging two small tree trunks to light a fire to cook and eat a final meal to fuel their night-time journey. They might make multiple attempts before a successful, undetected crossing into Hungary.
Some had already tried before, getting as far as Budapest, the country's capital, before being pushed back to Serbia.
In some instances, the border hinders police. For example, Hungarian forces can see smuggling activity on the Serbian side but cannot cross over to intervene.
Fleeing extreme persecution
Like Farid, some of the men in the group The Telegraph shadowed – a mix of teenagers and people aged in their 20s – had worked in the military or police under the previous government. When the Taliban came to power, they faced extreme persecution or death, so decided to flee.
Mustafa, 28, who declined to give his real name, carried in his backpack a prized possession: a sleeping bag.
'I hope to get to Birmingham, where my brother arrived about 10 months ago,' he said. 'We couldn't go together, because I was still working in a textile factory in Turkey.'
The data cannot show the individual circumstances that affect exactly when migrants choose to travel. Many that The Telegraph met along Serbia's border, like Mustafa, had stayed for months or even years in transit countries, such as Iran and Turkey, working odd jobs in secret.
Many remained the sole breadwinners for their families, and had dual goals of saving enough to get back on the road, while also supporting their relatives at home. They had to find a way to make money along the way.
Crossing from Serbia into the EU was almost straightforward, in contrast to what they had endured until now: escaping the Taliban; crossing multiple borders; evading many different militaries and police forces; and dodging sophisticated surveillance like the thermal cameras on the southern and eastern borders of Turkey.
As the night sky darkened, Mustafa's group quietly prepared to leave. To pass the time – nobody would attempt to cross the border until it was pitch black – Mustafa pulled out his phone to watch a short video online with the other boys.
He made sure to turn the volume down in case anyone was within earshot, though the group was fairly well hidden in an expansive stretch of quiet farmland.
When the time came, they shrugged on their backpacks and readied themselves to embark on another epic leg – in hopes of building a new, better life.
'Europe,' they said together, before turning around and trudging towards the border.