Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has asked his foreign ministry to prepare the country’s consulates to assist Polish citizens who might be affected by US President Donald Trump’s plans to deport illegal migrants.
The move on January 21 was slammed by former foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz for being “scare tactics” because, he said, there was no evidence any Poles had entered the US illegally.
On January 20, Trump signed scores of executive orders, many of which were related to tackling illegal migration.
That led politicians from the centre-left Tusk coalition to express concern that Poles who may have travelled to the US and stayed without legalising their extended presence could face deportation.
According to a 2016 estimate published by Poland’s liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza, around 50,000 undocumented Polish people were living in the US at that time.
There is no evidence that any of them arrived in the US illegally and the number included those whose passport documentation had merely lapsed.
There are an estimated 8.81 million self-identified Polish Americans, according to the 2021 American Community Survey conducted by the US Census Bureau.
Speaking on Polish public radio station Trójka on January 20, Senator Michał Kamiński of Tusk’s coalition Third Way allies, alleged that Trump was “for some reason beginning the crackdown on undocumented migrants in Chicago, a city with a large Polish population many of whose stay was undocumented”.
He added that, as a result, “The idea that Trump is pro-Polish will quickly unravel.”
That appeared to be a reference to the fact that Trump had wooed the Polish electorate during the his election campiagn and that, now as President, he had lavished praise on Poland for its stance in giving up on Russian gas and rapidly increasing defence spending.
Tusk, on January 21, hinted that the deportation of Poles was a distinct possibility.
“Every Pole who seeks to return to Poland will be warmly welcomed into the country,” Tusk told reporters, adding: “There may be no cause for concern but Poland should be well prepared for any situation.
“We have not received any information on whether this operation could affect Polish citizens residing in the United States,” he said, but stated he wanted consulates to be put on alert to deal with any potential problems.
Tusk also took the opportunity to declare that Poland would welcome back anyone who wanted to return, saying increasing living standards and a thriving job market would accommodate them.
“Anyone who wants to work and believes in their own future will find opportunities here,” he said.
Tusk’s comments have been criticised by the opposition Conservatives (PiS) who accused him of being alarmist and jeopardising Poland’s relations with the US.
Former foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz, interviewed on Trójka on January 22, accused both Tusk and his foreign minister Radosław Sikorski of “stirring up distrust with the Americans” and “playing internal domestic politics with our relationship with the US”.
That was, he said, because “all Trump is asking for is respect for international law”, reminding Tusk: “Poland itself has suspended asylum claim rights on its eastern border.”
He added: “There is no evidence that Poles have been storming the US border in Mexico.”
He said it was the sealing of that border and dealing with its porosity that was the objective of Trump’s new migration policies.
Czaputowicz appeared to be referring to the fact that Tusk’s party was engaged in an electoral struggle with the opposition PiS in the run-up to May’s presidential election .
He seemed to suggest that the ruling block was concerned the opposition could benefit from supporting Trump and that therefore any reduction in Trump’s considerable popularity in Poland may be beneficial for the present ruling party.
The PiS aligned Polish president Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term in office ends in August after May’s Polish elections, had good relations with Trump during his first term although he was not invited to attend the President’s second inauguration on January 20.
