Illegal border crossings from Belarus to Poland drop over 98% in 2026

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland says that the number of attempted illegal crossings by migrants over the border from Belarus fell from around 15,500 in the first half of last year to less than 250 in the same period this year – a drop of over 98%.

It also now claims to have a 100% success rate in apprehending migrants who manage to cross illegally.

“The effectiveness of [border guard] officers and the Polish armed forces discourages migrants from taking risks,” says Poland’s interior ministry.

Bezpieczeństwo na granicy z Białorusią w pierwszej połowie 2026 r. w liczbach:

📉 Ponad 65-krotny spadek prób nielegalnego przekroczenia (ok. 235 vs ponad 15,5 tys. w pierwszym półroczu 2025 r.)

🛡️ 0 udanych prób nielegalnego przekroczenia granicy

💯 Skuteczność ochrony: 100%… pic.twitter.com/1lTXV56JdW

— MSWiA 🇵🇱 (@MSWiA_GOV_PL) July 18, 2026

Since 2021, large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers – mainly from Africa and Asia – have tried to irregularly cross the border from Belarus to Poland with the help and encouragement of the Belarusian authorities. In 2021 alone, just under 40,000 attempted illegal crossings were recorded.

While Poland subsequently strengthened border infrastructure and sent thousands of additional officers to bolster security, attempted crossings remained high: there were just under 30,000 in each of 2024 and 2025.

However, those figures have now fallen dramatically in the first half of this year, when Poland’s border guard recorded only 235 crossings, compared to 15,500 in the equivalent period for 2025.

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Meanwhile, the interior minister says that the number of successful crossings by migrants – i.e. those who managed to get across the border and were not apprehended – has fallen to zero so far this year, down from around 1,700 in 2025, 5,000 in 2024 and 12,000 in 2023.

However, when presenting such figures on successful crossings, the ministry does not indicate how it calculates them, given that successful crossings are often inherently undetected. Most of those who manage to cross do not remain in Poland, instead heading westwards, in particular to Germany.

“ The statistics clearly show that the 3 billion zloty (€692 million) investment in the security of the Polish-Belarusian border has delivered the intended results – we are effectively protecting our country from illegal migration organised by the Belarusian regime with the support of the Kremlin,” declared the ministry.

Poland says that “specialists from the Middle East” have been brought to Belarus to dig tunnels under the border for migrants to cross into Poland.

Four such tunnels have been discovered this year, including one last week that was used by 180 migrants https://t.co/4ConkQnj8z

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 16, 2025

Among the measures taken to protect the border are a 5.5-metre-high steel fence as well as an electronic monitoring system that detects attempts to cross and dispatches officers to the scene.

In 2024, following the death of a soldier who had been stabbed by a migrant attempting to cross the border, Poland also loosened the rules on the use of firearms by officers posted there. Since last year, it has banned asylum claims by people who cross from Belarus.

Last August, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Poland’s border with Belarus , where she thanked the Polish authorities for defending Europe from “cynical hybrid attacks” orchestrated by Belarus and Russia.

Germany’s interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, also praised Poland’s “impressive” efforts “to stop illegal migration” and said that it was vital for the EU to offer financial and logistical support.

EU chief @vonderleyen has thanked Poland for defending Europe from “cynical hybrid attacks” during a visit with PM @donaldtusk to the border with Belarus.

She emphasised the “urgency” of protecting the EU’s frontier from the “predator” Vladimir Putin https://t.co/O9bhmLha44

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 31, 2025

However, while Poland has managed to significantly reduce the number of attempted and successful border crossings, there is evidence that Belarus has switched its focus to Latvia, another EU member state with which it shares a border.

Last week, Latvian interior minister Jānis Dombrava told Euronews that his country has now “become the main target” for Belarus’s migrant trafficking, instead of Poland and Lithuania.

On Thursday, Latvia recorded 111 attempted illegal crossings from Belarus, compared to two in Lithuania on the same day and zero in Poland the previous day.

Latvia becomes Lukashenka's latest pressure point for the EU https://t.co/HQ6G0XPLKm

— euronews (@euronews) July 18, 2026

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Policja Podlaska (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL )