Polish government says step aimed to check migrants more thoroughly amid public concerns over immigration.
Poland has reintroduced temporary checks on its borders with Germany and Lithuania, citing a growing influx of undocumented migrants and increasing public concern over security.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the move on Monday, arguing that Warsaw needed to “redirect” migration routes that bypass barriers along the Belarusian border and instead pass through neighbouring Latvia and Lithuania.
“To redirect this stream of people, which is deflected by our barrier, but which wants to cross Poland again through the border with Latvia and Lithuania, and further into Europe,” Tusk said.
The decision came amid heightened tensions across Europe over irregular migration, with other Schengen members like Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands having already taken similar steps over the past 18 months, putting strain on the European Union’s passport-free travel zone.
Germany has maintained controls on its border with Poland since 2023, but recently adopted a tougher approach, rejecting undocumented arrivals and sending them back to Poland under EU and bilateral agreements.
Polish authorities say this has placed an unfair burden on their country.
Knut Abraham, Germany’s envoy for Polish relations, warned the new checks could cause traffic congestion and disrupt trade, without curbing migration effectively. Similar concerns were raised by Rafal Gronicz, mayor of the border town of Zgorzelec, who dismissed fears of a migrant crisis as exaggerated.
“As long as I live, I have never known anyone who wanted to escape from Germany to Poland,” he told local radio. “There are no pressing waves of migrants walking around Zgorzelec.”
Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said checks on the German border will be lifted when Berlin ends its tougher controls.
“If Germany lifts its controls, we are not going to delay either,” Siemoniak said. “We want this movement to be absolutely free, that the problems of illegal migrant and migration be resolved together, without either side suffering.”
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks in Poland after a Venezuelan national was charged with murdering a 24-year-old woman in Torun. That killing triggered mass protests led by nationalist groups, with some 10,000 people marching on Sunday in her memory.
A separate incident on Saturday saw a Polish man fatally stabbed during a brawl in the northern town of Nowe. Authorities said on Monday that 13 people had been arrested – three Poles and 10 Colombians. Angry crowds gathered outside a workers’ hostel where the Colombians had been staying, state media reported.
Far-right groups have also begun patrolling Poland’s western frontier, claiming to protect the country from migrant flows. Human rights organisations condemned these vigilante efforts, warning they fuel xenophobia and undermine trust in official institutions.
“The actions of these self-proclaimed groups are the result of a radicalising political narrative,” said the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. “Debate on migration should be grounded in facts, not fear.”
