Although Prime Minister Donald Tusk has just announced the “reintroduction of border controls” with Germany and Lithuania as of July 7, 2025, the facts are undeniable: since May, German authorities have already sent more than 1,300 migrants back to Poland. The government has remained silent about this large-scale relocation operation, and the public only learns about the details from statements issued by the German Ministry of the Interior.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that temporary border controls with Germany and Lithuania would be reintroduced starting Monday, July 7. The operation is being prepared by the Border Guard.
“We have made the decision to reintroduce temporary controls at the Polish-German and Polish-Lithuanian borders. For organizational reasons, this will come into effect on Monday, July 7,” the prime minister stated.
He also noted that “the German side is refusing entry to migrants who, coming from various directions, are heading to Germany to seek asylum.”
In reality, German authorities began acting much earlier. According to official information from the spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), Mehmet Ata, since May 8, 2025, the German police have already returned around 1,300 individuals, including 130 migrants who had applied for asylum.
”Poland Accepts Everyone”
Data published by the German Ministry of the Interior for the period from January 1, 2024, to the end of April 2025 show that:
• 18,904 individuals were identified as having crossed the Polish-German border illegally,
• 3,741 people applied for asylum directly at the border,
• 11,398 people were turned away at the border, and
• 406 individuals were deported from Germany to the country where they originally entered the EU.
Following a decision on May 7, 2025, German authorities are now also permitted to return individuals who have already formally submitted asylum applications. And Poland, as Olaf Jensen, the head of the deportation center in Eisenhüttenstadt emphasized, “accepts every migrant expelled from Germany.”
“Poland is one of the most responsive, cooperative, and efficient countries in Europe on this matter: it replies quickly, in agreement, and always favorably. (…) There is great potential to simplify transfers between Poland and Brandenburg,” Jensen stated in an interview with Wirtualna Polska.
What Does the Law Say? And What Are the Germans Doing?
Under the current Dublin III Regulation, EU countries have agreed that asylum procedures should take place in the country where the migrant first entered the EU. If a migrant subsequently makes their way—e.g., from Poland to Germany—Berlin has the legal right to send them back.
The issue is that these returns are occurring on a massive scale, and Prime Minister Tusk’s government is avoiding publicly disclosing what the practical side of this “good cooperation with Berlin” actually looks like. Migrants who are being sent back often have never even been in Poland—frequently lacking documents or any evidence to prove they were ever here.