Criminality. 1082 or 2589 foreigners “expelled from Poland”? Much more

The heads of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration met on February 11 with the President of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski regarding the fight against organized crime with the participation of foreigners staying in Poland, and then Minister Tomasz Siemoniak and President Trzaskowski appeared at a press conference. – We cannot allow organized criminal groups consisting of foreigners to destroy public order and reduce the level of security – said Siemoniak. He stated that among all suspects of crimes in Poland 5 percent. In 2024, foreigners were – pointing out that Georgians have the largest share in this crime.

And President Trzaskowski expressed his satisfaction that “the government reacts hard to this type of signals and prevents this crime to be reborn,” then stated: “Last year we were dealing with the deportations of 1080 peopleso you work here, and we work with all services and we will continue to cooperate. “And he added that” people who do not respect the law in Poland should be – foreigners – they should simply be deported. ”

Why suddenly such a message? It is the aftermath of Donald Tusk's announcements, who in Gdańsk on February 7 at a conference with the chairwoman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen spoke about the decisive actions of the authorities in a relationship in reports about an increase in crime among foreigners staying in Poland. He asked the Ministry of Interior and Administration and the Ministry of Justice for “a quick plan for immediate reaction to organized crime, aggressive performed by foreigners.” “Everyone who guests in Poland uses our hospitality and in a brutal way violates the law, will be deported from Poland” – announced Tusk. “We have too many examples recently, which show that tolerance for this type of behavior brings very bad results, so expect the state in the coming days of decisive actions that will limit crime, also when it comes to the environments of migrants and foreigners staying in Poland ” – he announced.

The topic was quickly undertaken by the Citizens' Coalition candidate for president Rafał Trzaskowski. Already at meetings with voters on the weekend on February 8-9 he gave a number, which he later repeated on February 11 (though not so accurately). And so on February 8 on press conference in Osiu (Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship) said: “In recent days, recent weeks, a lot of press reports have appeared regarding security issues, the possibility of possible rebirth of criminal groups in Poland. Criminal groups that would come from the East. I would like to tell you that we about it We know the problem, we talk for many, many months and react clearly. ”

And he declared: “because it was thanks to the cooperation of my capital of Warsaw with the Ministry of the Interior and the hard behavior of the new government, In 2024, we were dealing with deportations, with extradition of 1082 migrants who simply broke Polish law“After a while he repeated:” I want to tell you clearly that zero tolerance for all those who are in Poland, conflict with Polish law. They will be expelled, they will be deported. As I said, “in 2024, 1082 people from Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Belarus“.

Trzaskowski repeated the same data at the meeting with voters in Inowrocław. “We helped and we will help,” he began, referring to the situation of Ukrainians in Poland. “But we also care about internal security, it is extremely important. Recently a series of articles, which says that, unfortunately, we also have such migrants in Poland who break Polish law. I have been cooperating with the police for many, many months, we wonder what we are thinking about what Do, but we not only wonder because we act. Over 1080 people were deported from Poland because they broke Polish law“ – said Trzaskowski.

The deportations of foreigners breaking Polish law and a migration pact were discussed in weekend journalistic programs. IN “7th day of the Radio ZET week“Minister Katarzyna Lubnauer reacted to the allegation of PiS MP Marcin Horała about the lack of control of Polish borders:” For now, we are deporting Georgian migrants that you let in and who are now committing crimes in Poland. Mass. We deport “. She returned to the thread a moment later, providing the data:” However, the fact is that 2,589 Georgian citizens from Poland were expelled last year. We know that we have a problem at the moment with crimes committed by citizens who were allowed during PiS. ”

Thus, Lubnauer gave a higher number of expelled foreigners, in addition only one nationality than Trzaskowski, talking about the “deportations” of people of five nationalities. We checked where the politicians came from.

We have reached the statistics, which are probably used by politicians – both numbers (1082 and 2589) appear in the statement prepared by the border guard entitled “Foreigners who left the territory of the Republic of Poland voluntarily and under coercion based on the decision about the commitment of a foreigner to return in 2024 “. Is a table covering data from January to December 2024 available on Border Guard website.

The list includes 90 nationalities (in addition, there are categories: indefinite/other; without citizenship (Article 1 of the Convention of 1954); Refugee (Article 1 of the 1951 Convention). There is a division of how many foreigners of a given nationality were issued a decision on the obligation to commit a liability to return due to the type of its implementation – voluntary and forced.

The decision to oblige the foreigner to return is administrative and regulates it The Act on foreigners of December 12, 2013. This decision is issued by the Border Guard. The consequence is the order to leave Poland by a foreigner. Most often, such a decision is made when a foreigner stays in Poland illegally, committing a crime, has not left the country through the deadline set in the visa, performs illegal work in Poland (detailed conditions are set out in paragraph 1. Article 302 of the aforementioned Act).

The decision contains the date that a person has to leave Poland. By law, it is eight to 30 days from the date of delivery of the decision (Article 315). However, the Act defines a situation when such a deadline is not set – it is, for example, the likelihood of escaping or a threat to state security. Then the forced execution of the decision is immediate after its issuing.

The decision to commit a foreigner to return is made voluntarily or forced – hence the distinction in the Border Guard table. The procedure of forced leave is initiated when the foreigner does not leave the country within the prescribed period. Pursuant to art. 329.

Let's look at the table shown above. Rafał Trzaskowski – talking about deportations – used the number 1082 and mentioned five nationalities (Georgians, Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians and Moldovans). But this number concerns over 40 other nationalities and covers only people who were expelled forcibly (using the term “deportations” by Trzaskowski is not the happiest, which we translate later in the text). Apart from them, Poland voluntarily – on the basis of a decision on the commitment of a foreigner to return – had to leave 7458 people based on an administrative decision.

That is, in total in 2024 as many as 8540 foreigners It had to leave our country due to breaking Polish law. Compared to 2023, it was 1254 more people.

Trzaskowski also used the term “extradition” – it is not correct in this context. Because extradition is the state of a person staying on its area to the authorities of another country, when this person is suspected of committing a crime or sentenced to a sentence in a state that he requests an issue. It is not known how many such cases there are among 1082 people from the state of the Border Guard, but certainly this term cannot be referred to everyone.

Katarzyna Lubnauer was more precise in providing data, who talked about 2589 expelled Georgians, i.e. who left Poland on the basis of a decision about the obligation to return. This number includes both people who did it voluntarily and for whom the return was forced: 2325 and 264 Georgians, respectively.

In 2024, the citizens of Georgia were the most numerous group of foreigners who had to leave Poland. The next places were: Belarusians – 1377 people, Moldovans – 1198, Ukrainians – 449, Russians – 406, Uzbek – 382 and Hundusi – 222. These are total numbers of voluntary and forced returns.

Border Guard statistics include a total of people who had to leave Poland as a result committing a crimebut also due to illegal stay in Poland. Lieutenant colonel Andrzej Juźwiak draws attention to this. – Illegal stay is not treated as a crime, but it is a violation of law. Administrative proceedings are initiated towards such a foreigner, not criminal proceedings – he explains in an interview with Specj24.

– The statement of the Border Guard includes a total number of foreigners who received decisions obliging to return. Specific reasons for issuing these decisions are not specified in it. Therefore, the number indicated only with the persons who committed crimes cannot be equated and therefore have been obliged to return – adds Lt. Col. Juźwiak.

In addition, Lt. Col. Juźwiak draws attention to the recently used word “deportation” that does not appear in the Act on foreigners. – In the common sense 'Deportation' means forced expulsion beyond the borders of the country. Pursuant to the Act on foreigners, the decision to return in the decision on the obligation to return is determined by the date of voluntary departure. However, if there is a probability of escaping a foreigner or requires this consideration of state defense or security, or protection of public security and order, the deadline for voluntary departure is not determined. Such a decision is then subject to immediate execution – he notes.