In just 14 months German services returned to Poland over 10 000 migrants. specified data was provided by the national Police of Germany. Although authoritative channels – specified as the Dublin procedure or readmission – cover only a fraction of this number, the actual scale of operations conducted by the Germans is much wider. And much more problematic.
For many it may be surprising, but Germany – a country that likes to teach others about humanitarian matters and human rights – uses mechanisms that let them to decision migrants back to Poland, not always full transparent and in line with the spirit of EU solidarity.
According to information obtained by Interia, from January 2024 to late February 2025 The Germans returned 10,000 migrants to Poland. Meanwhile, the Dublin procedure and the simplified readmission – i.e. the formal mechanisms for the transfer of abroad nationals between EU countries – covered only 1077 people at the time.
That means 1 thing: thousands of people are turned around without going into formal procedures. How? Through mobile checks carried out by the German national Police, which take place not only at the border but besides deep in German territory – on highways, trains, in parking lots. For the German migration system, it is simply a "no entry". For Poland – a real problem that falls on it without notice.
As Interii explained by national Police spokesperson Franziska Gorski, mobile patrols operate “elastically, depending on the assessment of the situation”. Doesn't sound like something you can control or evidence accurately.
In practice, this means that if a migrant has been detained in the German territory but has not been able to apply for asylum, Germany can just throw it back to Poland, without informing Polish services and without conducting a full procedure.
Problem is, there are thousands of cases like this. And that's not speculation – it's confirmed numbers from German sources.
The most frequently detained migrants come from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, but besides from East Africa – Somalia and Eritrea. Their way leads through Belarus and Poland, and the goal is Germany. Berlin treats Poland as a ‘country of first entry’, a place that should be liable for further asylum procedures.
In practice, it looks like this: a migrant crosses the green border in Podlasie, moves through Poland and, if not caught, goes to Germany. There, alternatively of getting an chance to apply for asylum (which guarantees him global law), he is detained by mobile patrol and immediately returned.
It's a bypass. Comfortable, fast, without formalities. But besides morally and legally questionable.
It is worth recalling that it was Germany that advocated the common asylum policy in the EU. Berlin promoted the alleged solidarity mechanics – relocation of refugees from border countries to another associate States.
But today, as migratory force increases and German society is impatient, German politics are turning 180 degrees. alternatively of supporting countries like Poland, Berlin drops the problem back on Warsaw. Officially – according to the law. Unofficially – frequently without asking.
Thousands of migrants returned from Germany go back to Poland where they must be placed under the procedure. Our asylum strategy is already in operation at the border. The waiting time for the decision is up to respective months, and infrastructure – centres for foreigners, staff, social assistance – is insufficient.
In 2024 more than 4000 asylum applications were submitted in Poland. The vast majority are the people who returned from Germany. No money, no men, no plan.
Meanwhile, from Brussels – silence.
According to the messages of the German Ministry of abroad Affairs, presently there are about 200 officers on the border, besides as part of joint patrols with the Polish Border Guard. But it's more PR than a real solution.
The patrols will not halt the migratory pressure, will not unload the Polish strategy and will not repair the EU policy, which has been functioning on the rule of "retreat yourselves" for years.
Today, the European Union does not have an effective border protection mechanics or a fair allocation strategy for migrants. Germany, which was inactive the leader of humanitarian policy a fewer years ago, present is about the strategy itself, putting the burden on its neighbours.
Returning thousands of migrants without formal procedure, without informing the Polish side, without a common solution – this is not an expression of solidarity. It is simply a policy of double standards where morality ends where political interior cost begins.
