Polish government criticizes “citizen patrols” blocking migrant returns on German border

The Polish government has criticized the actions of self-proclaimed “citizen patrols” that have gathered on the German border with the aim of preventing the return of migrants who have illegally entered Germany from Poland.

It accuses the groups, which have received backing from right-wing opposition politicians, of disrupting the work of border officers and of spreading misinformation about Poland being “flooded” with migrants.

Germany has been sending back to Poland thousands of migrants whom it has found crossed the border illegally. It does so under a combination of EU regulations , bilateral agreements with Poland, and border checks that were reinstated in 2023 .

Many of those sent back are Ukrainians. Others are non-Europeans, often from Asia and Africa, who have either claimed asylum in Poland – and therefore must remain there while their applications are processed – or have simply passed through it after entering the EU irregularly.

The Polish government has criticized the scale of Germany's returns, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk earlier this year threatening not to honor agreements on migrant returns and to reintroduce controls on the Polish side of the border .

However, opposition parties – the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) and far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) – accuse the government of failing to stand up to Germany. They have expressed support for the citizen patrols – some of them hundreds strong – that have gathered on the border .

On Monday, Tusk addressed the growing criticism at a press conference. He said it was simply “not true” that “Poland is being flooded with illegal immigrants from the west” as the government's critics claim.

He accused “ultra-right politicians of putting on a show at the border” and said that their actions were “compromising” Poland.

The “citizen patrols” have generally gathered at the border to observe what is happening and express opposition to migrant returns. But there have been some cases of “citizen arrests” of alleged irregular migrants as well as attempts to block crossings and at least one clash with police.

Tusk said that he has been in “in contact with the German government, and Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz personally, to inform them that each case [of migrant returns] will be investigated and…no one will be allowed in [if] the reason for which they were to be handed over to the Polish side is questionable.”

“We also indicated to the German side that, if cases that are doubtful from our point of view repeat themselves, we will have to restore controls on the Polish-German border from the Polish side,” said the prime minister.

Tusk also suggested that Poland could reintroduce checks on its border with Lithuania, a fellow member of both the European Union and the Schengen free-travel area.

Some migrants who irregularly enter Latvia and Lithuania across the border from Belarus subsequently make their way west through Poland.

Later on Monday, interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak also accused right-wing groups of “politically instrumentalizing” the situation on the German border. He said that the citizen patrols were seeking to “cause trouble on the border”, including by “provoking Polish officers”.

Siemoniak declared that, if anyone really wants to help, the border guard has just created 1,500 new positions and they can apply to join, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

The minister also claimed that, while PiS is now criticizing the alleged inaction of the government in response to returns, when it was in power “the numbers were much higher”. He also said that many of the migrants involved “entered Poland illegally under PiS” thanks to its lax visa policies .

PiS and Confederation politicians responded angrily to Tusk and Siemoniak's remarks, accusing them of lying and of slandering Poles who have decided to defend their country's border.

"Poles see what is happening on the border, express their concerns, try to defend the country and what does the head of the government say about it? He accuses Poles of doing 'nasty' things," said PiS deputy leader and former prime minister Beata Szydło.

“Tusk, like a classic Berlin agent, allows the Germans to break Polish law, transfer illegal immigrants, and forces the border guard to obey the Germans,” declared former PiS justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro. “On top of that, he lies that this is not happening.”

“When Donald Tusk and Tomasz Siemoniak do not control the situation on the border, Poles have taken matters into their own hands,” wrote Confederation MEP Anna Bryłka. “Tusk, instead of sorting out the border, insults the citizen patrols.”

https://x.com/BeataSzydlo/status/1939657613152494018

Main image credit: Krzysztof Zatycki / Agencja Wyborcza.pl