A tent town in Kúty, western Slovakia. (source: Interior Ministry)
The Interior Ministry has shut down a camp town for illegal migrants in Kúty, a town near the border with the Czech Republic.
Slovakia has run the 16-tent camp near the Kúty railway station since early November, despite criticism from local people.
Today, the ministry claims that the camp is not necessary anymore, as the number of illegal migrants is decreasing with colder weather taking over Slovakia.
On December 20, there were nine illegal migrants at the camp. Not long ago, around a hundred migrants on average stayed at the tent town.
Two facilities for illegal migrants
Illegal migrants detained by the Slovak police for the purposes of registration and medical examination can still use the Migration Office’s facilities in Rohovce, a town in the south of central Slovakia, and Opatovská Nová Ves, located near the Slovak-Hungarian border and relatively close to Bratislava.
“They will be allowed to remain at these facilities for a maximum of seven days, during which time they have the opportunity to apply for international protection,” said the Migration Office’s head Ján Orlovský.
However, if they do not, the migrants will be forced to leave these facilities.
Police patrols remain in place
Many migrants are trying to cross Slovakia’s borders with Austria and the Czech Republic to reach Germany.
Before tighter border control, migrants had seen Kúty as an easy way of reaching western Europe, since Kúty is an important railway hub where international trains regularly stop.
The police have said that they will continue to patrol the borders to fight illegal migration.
