ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Poland recorded no successful illegal crossings on its border with Belarus in the first quarter of 2026, with authorities saying they thwarted about 215 attempts through May after tightening border controls and restricting access to asylum.
The Polish Interior Ministry told Rudaw's Niyaz Mustafa in a statement on Friday that the 215 attempts recorded between January and the end of May represented a more than 40-fold decrease from the 10,600 attempts recorded during the same period in 2025. “Each of these attempts was successfully thwarted,” the ministry said.
Poland attributed the decline to its border policy, including a buffer zone, a physical and electronic barrier and the temporary suspension of the right to asylum for people crossing irregularly from Belarus.
The government extended the buffer zone on the Polish-Belarusian border for another three months from June 3, citing continued migratory pressure from Belarus.
The latest figures come as Poland pushes for tougher EU-wide measures against irregular migration.
At an EU interior ministers’ meeting this week, Poland argued that people who enter the bloc illegally should be excluded from obtaining residence permits, according to the Polish Interior Ministry.
The issue has gained wider attention following a recent influx of migrants into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has urged Spain to follow Poland’s approach to border security, saying it is necessary to protect the future of the Schengen free-movement area.
Poland has accused Belarus, backed by Russia, of facilitating irregular migration toward the EU since 2021 and describes the movement as a form of "weaponized" migration and a hybrid threat.
Warsaw has spent about 3 billion zlotys (around $800 million) on border security, including nearly 1 billion zlotys on an electronic fence and 442 million zlotys on upgrading the physical barrier, the Polish interior ministry said in its statement to Rudaw.
A 5.5-meter-high barrier topped with barbed wire has stood along the border since 2022, while cameras and other electronic systems monitor the frontier.
The government’s asylum restrictions, however, have drawn criticism from Poland’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Marcin Wiacek. In May, he questioned whether the measure remained justified after being extended repeatedly for more than a year and called for less restrictive alternatives.
The Polish ministry told Rudaw that asylum applications have fallen by 35 percent compared with 2022, while enforced return orders for foreign nationals increased by 26 percent compared with 2025.
