Refugee rights activists on Monday criticized Poland's pro-European Union government for plans to tighten security at the border with Belarus and for continuing a policy initiated by predecessors of pushing migrants back across the border there. The activists organized an online news conference after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made his first visit to the border area since he took office in December.
Once the new route opened, many other migrants continued to follow the path, finding it an easier entry point than more dangerous routes across the Mediterranean Sea. It is “probably the safest, cheapest and fastest way to Europe,” Alboth said. Still, some migrants have died, with some buried in Muslim and Christian cemeteries in Poland. Bartek Rumienczyk, another activist with Grupa Granica, said the group knows of more than 60 deaths of migrants who have died since 2021.