Polish minister says join police, not vigilantes

WARSAW – Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz on Tuesday called on those who wish to "defend Poland's borders" to join official services amid escalating border tensions and a rising number of self-organized vigilante patrols.

“There are 1,500 vacancies in the Border Guard,” he said during a speech in the Sejm, Poland’s lower chamber. “Everyone who wants to serve Poland, everyone who wants to protect our borders, is welcome - whether in the Border Guard, the Territorial Defence Forces, or the Police.”

The minister’s comments come at a time of mounting tensions along Poland’s western frontier with Germany. Polish authorities accuse Berlin of pushing migrants back into Poland, with far-right groups mobilizing around the issue on the ground to “defend the border”.

These include Straż Narodowa (National Guard), Patrioci Przeciwko Islamizacji Europy (Patriots Against the Islamisation of Europe), and the recently formed Ruch Obrony Granic (Border Defence Movement), which presents itself as a grassroots initiative but is linked to nationalist and ultra-conservative networks.

These groups have organized citizen patrols along the German border and claim to be filling a void left by the state – though critics warn of vigilantism and potential human rights abuses.

While Kosiniak-Kamysz highlighted a drop in illegal crossings from Belarus – down to 800 in 2025 from 12,000 in 2023 – he flagged a shift in migration routes toward Latvia and Lithuania through Belarus.

The minister noted a 25% drop in visas issued under the current government and described new border policies as part of a broader “philosophy of border protection”.