The German government announced today that it was invoking emergency powers to impose strict controls along its southern border with Austria in an attempt to stem what has become an overwhelming tide of migrants entering the country. The Guardian reports that more than 14,000 new migrants from the Middle East and Africa arrived in the southern city of Munich over this weekend, part of an influx of tens of thousands that has suddenly intensified ahead of upcoming security measures in Hungary that will make the migrants’ route to Austria and Germany more difficult. Often to the chagrin of other European Union nations, Germany has been the E.U.’s most open-armed country when it comes to accepting new migrants and refugees, and had recently offered an unprecedented invitation to those seeking asylum. But while German officials have been very organized and efficient at distributing and supporting the newcomers throughout the country, they now seem to have reached capacity — at least temporarily.
