KANJIZA, Serbia: Migrants sped through the Balkans by train, bus and taxi on Monday, racing to beat a border crackdown promised by Hungary’s right-wing government.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expects a high rate of asylum requests to be rejected after tougher new rules take effect from midnight according to excerpts of an interview with private broadcaster TV2 published online on Monday.

Hungary is threatening to arrest and jail anyone caught trying to cross undetected its southern, EU border from Serbia as of Tuesday, and to hold in camps those who seek asylum in a bid to stem the flow of migrants, many of them Syrian refugees, through the Balkan peninsula.

Many appeared to be hurrying to beat the new measures, which would inevitably slow their passage through Hungary to the richer countries of northern and western Europe. Hungarian police said a record 5,809 people had been registered entering from Serbia on Sunday and a further 5,353 just by 12 a.m. (local time) on Monday. Many appeared to be sent directly by train to the Austrian border, a Reuters photographer said.

“We heard the Hungarians will close the border on September 15th so we had to hurry from Greece,” 24-year-old engineering student Amer Abudalabi, from the Syrian capital Damascus, said shortly before crossing the border from Serbia.

“We have not slept since Saturday morning. I’m so tired. I won’t believe it when we cross into Hungary.” As the EU gropes for a united response, Hungary says it is duty-bound to secure the EU’s external frontier. Starting Tuesday, authorities say they will receive and start processing asylum requests at the border with Serbia, and transport many of those who apply to camps elsewhere in the country.