Poland's border guards have begun temporary checks at the common border with Germany. Since midnight, travelers have been checked at 52 border crossings, as the Ministry of the Interior announced on X. "The checks are aimed at those involved in the illegal smuggling of migrants across the border. Normal travelers have nothing to fear," said Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak, according to a post by his office. The border guards are particularly keeping an eye on minibuses, cars with many occupants and vehicles with tinted windows.
The controls will initially continue until August 5. Travelers who want to cross the border must have an identity card or passport with them. Checks will also be carried out at 13 border crossings with Lithuania. Polish border guards arrested an Estonian citizen there in the early hours of the morning. He reportedly had four people on board in his car who wanted to enter the country irregularly.
The center-left government in Warsaw ordered the controls in response to German border controls. Germany has already been carrying out random checks at the border with Poland since October 2023 to stop irregular migration. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) had ordered more intensive border controls shortly after the new federal government took office in May. At the same time, he ordered that asylum seekers could also be turned back at the border in future. Refoulement from Germany is a particularly contentious issue in Poland.
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