Poland has announced an increase in the number of illegal migrants at the border

Polish border guards recorded about 100 attempts to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border during the day, which indicates an increase in illegal migration in the spring season, the country’s border guard reported.
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“Over the past 24 hours, the largest number of illegal border crossing attempts has been recorded since the beginning of the year,” Katarzyna Zdanovich, a spokeswoman for the Podlaskie Border Agency, told.

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According to her, migrants tried to cross the border in the area of Krynka, Plaski, Michaluva and Melnik. Zdanovich noted that these were attempts both to overcome a technical barrier and to cross border rivers. She also reported that people who failed to reach the Polish side threw stones at Polish patrols.

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Last Tuesday, more than 70 people tried to cross the border, and over the weekend — more than 120 people. As Zdanovich noted, “in the first almost two weeks of March, more than 500 attempts were made.” For comparison, more than 200 attempts were recorded in January, and about 500 in the whole of February.

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According to the Border Guard Service, the increase in the number of attempts is due to a change in the weather.

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“Every year we see that with the arrival of spring, there are more such attempts,” Zdanovich said.

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According to her, attempts are being made along the entire length of the Polish-Belarusian border in Podlaskie voivodeship.

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Border guards also report attempts to destroy the steel fence. Last Tuesday, as can be seen in the video released by the border guard service, people on the Belarusian side of the border tried to cut steel bars.

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According to the Polish border guard service, since the beginning of the year, more than 1.2 thousand people have tried to illegally cross the Polish-Belarusian border. They come mainly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iran, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

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Last year, the Podlaskie Border Guard registered more than 30,000 such attempts. There were fewer of them in the second half of the year after the introduction of the buffer zone and the modernization of the border fence.

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In mid-2021, several thousand migrants gathered at the Polish-Belarusian border, hoping to enter the EU. Since then, several hundred illegal immigrants have been trying to enter Poland every month. The Polish authorities have stepped up border security, deployed military personnel and are suppressing attempts by illegal immigrants, blaming Minsk for the migration crisis. Belarus denies all these accusations, saying that Poland is forcibly expelling migrants to its territory and artificially escalating the refugee situation.

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President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted that Minsk will no longer restrain the flow of illegal migrants to EU countries: due to Western sanctions, there is “neither money nor strength” for this.