According to the Polish Border Guard Authority, the number of immigrants deported from Poland for breaking the law has almost doubled in the first two months of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
Between January and February, more than 1,300 people, mostly from Georgia and Belarus were deported, up from 700 in the equivalent period in 2024.
Nearly half of those deported in early 2025 were Georgian (260) or Belarusian (220). Other nationalities affected include Moldovans (150), Colombians (90), Ukrainians (80) and Russians (60).
The most common reason for deportation was for threatening Polish security and public order.
The deportation trend has continued into March, with Polish commercial broadcaster RMF reporting that four Georgians, seven Uzbeks and three Tajik citizens were expelled in the week ending March 22. They included a 32-year-old Georgian suspected of being linked to a terrorist organisation.
The number of Belarusians deported from Poland has risen by approximately 58 per cent in the first two months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, as authorities cracked down on visa abuses and crime.
Monika Szpunar from the Silesian Border Guard Unit told daily Rzeczpospolita on March 24 that the migrants “are usually re-offenders, convicted for assault, fighting and causing grievous bodily harm. There are many drivers with convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol and driving bans, which they frequently violate.”
The current centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk attributed the rise in deportations to lax visa policies introduced under the previous Conservative (PiS) administration. It fortified the border with Belarus to stop illegal migrants but issued hundreds of thousands of worker visas to people from Asia and the Middle East in order to meet growing demand in Poland’s vibrant labour market.
But other issues are at play, such as the increase in the numbers of Belarusians and Ukrainians in Poland.
Poland has granted 53,000 humanitarian visas to Belarusians in the four years since the disputed Belarusian 2020 presidential election that led to mass protests and repression by the then-government of president Alexander Lukashenko.
According to the Polish Border Guard Authority, the visas were often granted without any verification and many “doubtful refugees” were feared to have slipped through, some of whom are now being deported.
Some turned out to be working for Russian intelligence as was the case with a Belarusian who set fire to a DIY store in Warsaw last year having come to Poland seeking supposed refuge from the Lukashenko regime.
The Polish authorities have also been alarmed by activities of Georgian gangs with reports that in some parts of Poland the situation was returning to that not seen since the 1990s. During that period, an underfunded and understaffed police force was faced with an upsurge in organised and often violent crime caused in part by groups from abroad.
In February, interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak told commercial broadcaster Radio Zet that Poland was dealing with “imported crime, the rebirth of organised, brutal crime, and citizens of Georgia stand out in a negative way”.
The Georgian gangs operating in Poland have built a reputation for violence bordering on terrorism and Siemoniak said that coping with the situation was a priority to the police.
“We are taking steps: Arrests, convictions and expelling those people from Poland. For the police, this is one of the priorities at the moment.
“We will not allow criminal groups, whether Polish or foreign, to roam here in any way. We are trying to absolutely nip it in the bud,” he said.
The problem also had a European Union dimension since many of the migrants from Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova qualifed for Schengen visas and were able to move around the borderless Schengen area of the community.
It is estimated that between 2.5 million and 2.8 million immigrants live in Poland, accounting for 6.6 per cent to 7.5 perc ent of the country’s population of 37.5 million people.
