Poland suspends asylum rights

To counter the threat from an increasing flow of illegal migrants via Belarus, Poland will temporarily suspend asylum rights. This is expected to be announced as the country’s government presents new migration laws this week.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that he will not respect or implement any EU asylum laws if they threaten Poland’s security, emphasizing that ‘no one will convince me or force me to change my mind.’

In a speech over the weekend, Tusk said he would be ‘absolutely tough and ruthless’ on the issue of illegal migration, stressing that Poland must have 100 percent control over who enters the country.

Tusk is expected to present the new Polish migration pact at a government meeting on Tuesday, October 15.

‘After adopting this migration strategy, we will reduce illegal migration in Poland to a minimum. We will eradicate the methods that de facto bypassed Polish interests, which violated the security of Poles and the Polish state,’ he said.

Two years ago, Poland erected a 190-kilometer-long wall against Belarus to stop the flow of illegal migrants, which is likely orchestrated by Russia in an attempt to further destabilize EU countries.

Migrants from the Middle East

Although the influx has decreased, the public debate on the issue has continued, especially since May when a soldier was stabbed by an illegal migrant. In response, the government established an additional 200-meter buffer zone along the border.

Migration has been high on the agenda in Poland since 2021 when a border crisis culminated in thousands of asylum seekers, mainly from Afghanistan, Syria, and the Kurdish region of Iraq, attempting to enter Poland via Belarus. According to Warsaw and the EU, it is a crisis orchestrated by Minsk and its ally Russia.

Belarus authorities promoted travel to the country, mainly through tourist agencies in the Middle East, and human smugglers led migrants to believe that they could easily enter the EU. Thousands of people obtained tourist visas to fly to Minsk and then headed to the border with Poland.