Poland has announced that asylum claims of migrants entering the country from the Belarus border will be temporarily suspended.

Following the recent incidents of irregular migrants on the Belarus side cutting through the steel wall with machines to illegally enter Polish territory, Poland has taken a step to stop the migrants.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the decision will be valid after controversial legislation allowing Polish authorities to suspend this right for up to 60 days is signed by President Andrzej Duda.

Tusk stated that the bill would be approved “without delay,” while Duda emphasized that the changes were necessary to strengthen security at the country’s borders. RIGHTS GROUPS CRITICIZE

However, the decision has drawn criticism from human rights groups. Human Rights Watch previously called on the Polish parliament, stating that the legislation is contrary to Poland’s international and EU obligations and that Polish authorities could effectively close the Poland-Belarus border completely, where they have already carried out illegal and malicious pushbacks. Tusk rejected the criticism from human rights groups.

The government had previously stated that the suspension would only be temporarily applied to individuals posing a threat to national security or aggressive migrant groups trying to cross the border. It was reported that there were 400 attempted breaches on the Poland-Belarus border between March 21-24, and the number of illegal entries at the Belarus border has exceeded 2,300 since the beginning of 2025.

STEEL WALL PROJECT

Following a significant increase in the number of migrants entering Poland illegally from Belarus and Russia since 2021, Poland completed a 186 km steel wall project along the Belarus border in 2022 to prevent the wave of migrants.