Arriving at Hungary’s Border With 15 Children, Migrants Plot Next Move
The bus carrying the migrants arrived at Horgos, the border crossing from Serbia into Hungary. It dropped the migrants off at the railroad tracks, by now a familiar sight. Every border in the Balkans seemed to be reached by way of railroad tracks.
The Majid group joined a ragged procession of other migrants walking along the wooden slats, an old woman limping along behind everyone else, stopping only to pick a few yellow wildflowers.
As the group spotted the border ahead, marked by a line of shrubbery, they veered off the railroad tracks and into the fields. Some picked apples and plums for a snack. The rest sat down and drank water or prayed while waiting for darkness to fall.
When it did, a huge full moon, colored a vivid orange, rose over the horizon. It was as bright as a lantern. Not the best night for a furtive border crossing.
At 10 p.m., two young scouts appeared with a telescoping wooden ladder they had scavenged in the fields and carried it toward the border.
By 11 p.m., the whole group, dressed in dark colors for camouflage, crept forward and squatted behind the line of trees overlooking the border. Ahmad Majid and the scouts moved forward.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Majid, who usually charms everyone with his easygoing smile and diplomacy, looked preoccupied.
This part of the journey — the crossing of the Hungarian border — had been worrying him since arriving in Greece by dinghy from Izmir, Turkey.
Unlike Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, which basically waved the migrants over their borders, Hungary had been building a fence, closing its border and turning people back.
He had heard the news from a friend who had been detained after crossing into Hungary and forcibly fingerprinted, meaning that he was obliged to ask for asylum in Hungary, even though he wanted to go on to Germany. The Majids wanted to get to Germany, too, or Sweden.
If he were traveling with a group of single men, they could move quickly. But he was responsible for women and children, he said, and he did not want them to suffer.
There were about 15 children in the group, from babes in arms to 11-year-olds. There was also one grandmother with a bad leg, who looked about 75, but whose daughter said she was in her late 60s.
Mr. Majid had formed a plan. When they got to the border, they would wait until dark, then send two young men out to scout for the group.
He had chosen the scouts because they were 18, nonsmokers and athletic, and could run if they needed to.
The group’s aim was to get across the border and take a taxi to Budapest.
Looking at the scenery through the bus window, he pictured hiding among the corn or sunflowers as they moved.
“If we’re caught, we’re caught,” Mr. Majid said. But he preferred not to be.