Poland records increase in illegal migration from Belarus

More than half a thousand foreigners have tried to illegally enter Poland from Belarus since last Friday, and Polish border guards say this is one of the highest numbers in recent weeks.

According to RMF FM, most attempts to cross the border were made on Sunday and Saturday: on each of these days, more than 220 people tried to get to Poland from Belarus.

Illegal immigrants stormed the Polish border almost along its entire length in Podlaskie Voivodeship.

In two cases, Polish law enforcement officers prevented groups of several dozen people from breaking through. The migrants were very aggressive, throwing stones and branches and breaking windows in police cars.

Most of the people trying to cross the border were citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several African countries.

Since the beginning of May, Poland has recorded over 1900 attempts to illegally cross the border from Belarus.

An artificial migration crisis on the eastern border of Poland and the Baltic states has been created since the summer of 2021 with the assistance of the Belarusian authorities, following a harsh reaction of these countries to the repressions in Belarus and the forced landing of a flight in Minsk to arrest an opposition blogger.

Despite the increased border protection, the problem has not completely disappeared and is occasionally exacerbated for Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

In March 2025, the Polish government announced that it would strengthen border security with Belarus due to growing migration pressure and also restricted the right to seek international protection.