Poland criticizes Germany's “unacceptable” nighttime return of Afghan migrant over border

Poland says it is “unacceptable” that German officers brought an Afghan migrant to the border in the middle of the night and sent him unaccompanied to the Polish side.

The incident comes amid heightened tension over Germany's policy of returning to Poland thousands of migrants who have crossed the border illegally. The spokesman for the Polish interior ministry says that the latest case justifies Poland's decision to restore controls on the border from next week.

On Thursday afternoon, Poland's border guard issued a statement announcing that its commander, Robert Bagan, had spoken with the president of Germany's federal police headquarters, Dieter Romann, about an incident that occurred in the border town of Gubin during the previous night.

“The German police, without waiting for the arrival of a Polish border guard patrol, left an Afghan citizen at the border,” wrote the Polish border guard. “Such actions by the German authorities are unacceptable and contrary to our prior agreements.”

Poland's interior minister, Jacek Dobrzyński, shared the border guard statement and said that it was an “unacceptable and intolerable situation”. The “incident justifies the introduction of border control on the Polish side”, he added.

The incident in question appears to be one that was caught on film and published on social media by the Border Defense Movement (ROG), a group formed earlier this year by nationalist leader Robert Bąkiewicz .

In the video posted by Bąkiewicz, three German officers are seen escorting a man to the German side of a border bridge between Gubin and the German town of Guben, reportedly at 1 am on Thursday.

After crossing the bridge, and when approached by members of ROG, the man reportedly told them he had no identity documents. He then tried to return to the German side of the bridge, but was seemingly blocked by the German officers.

At the time of writing, there has been no comment on the incident from the German authorities.

Germany has long returned migrants to Poland who have entered illegally, using the EU's Dublin Regulation (which requires asylum seekers to remain in the member state where they have applied for protection) and bilateral agreements with Warsaw.

However, in 2023, Germany reintroduced controls on its border with Poland in an effort to stem a rise in illegal migration. That has led to even more migrants being turned back to Poland.

Official data obtained earlier this year by Polish media showed that, between January 2024 and February 2025, around 11,000 migrants were sent back to Poland from Germany.

Many of those returned are Ukrainians, Poland's largest migrant group. Others are non-Europeans, often from Asia and Africa, who have either claimed asylum in Poland – and therefore must remain there while their applications are processed – or have simply passed through it after entering the EU irregularly.

The issue has prompted growing anger in Poland, with regular protests at the border held by right-wing opposition parties and, more recently, self-declared “citizen patrols” appearing on the border in an effort to monitor and block migrant returns.

Earlier this year, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Germany that Poland may stop complying with international agreements on migrant returns and could even reintroduce border checks of its own. This week, Tusk announced that his government has decided on the latter step.

From Monday, border controls will be reintroduced, with 52 checkpoints established along the frontier with Germany, including 16 permanent control points.

Meanwhile, 13 checkpoints will be established on the border with Lithuania, where some migrants enter Poland after crossing into the EU from Belarus before seeking to head westwards.

Main image credit: Kuba Atys / Agencja Wyborcza.pl