The groups, which refer to themselves as "citizens' patrols" and are organised by the "Border Defence Movement," a coalition whose leaders share the same ideology that allegedly motivated the suspect behind the Christchurch massacre in New Zealand, have spent months on the western border documenting migrant activity. There have also been occasional clashes between these locals, police and migrants, local media have reported. Tusk warned that such actions, which he accuses Poland's opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and far-right Confederation of being behind, were "paralysing" efforts to keep the border under control.

Leaders of the citizens' patrol met PiS parliamentary caucus head Mariusz Błaszczak during his visit to the border crossings in Świecko and Słubice. This was the start of a PiS tour of significant border points with celebrity activists such as party head Jarosław Kaczyński and former prime ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Beata Szydło set to participate.

The Government's To Blame For Migrant Crisis – According To PiS
BÅ‚aszczak also accused German officials of causing a migration crisis by returning illegal migrants to Poland. He attacked Tusk's recent decision to reinstate border controls as "too little, too late" and said the government should have acted by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.

From January 2024 and February 2025, around 11,000 migrants were sent to Poland from Germany. More than 1,000 were returned under the Dublin Regulation, which requires asylum seekers to travel back to the EU nation where they entered first. But more than 10,300 people were refused entry as a result of German border controls, about half of them Ukrainian citizens.

BÅ‚aszczak also cited his reservations about the EU's migration pact, which calls for the redistribution of asylum seekers across the bloc. Despite Tusk saying Poland will not ratify the pact - because of the large number of refugees Ukrainians generate - PiS is supporting a petition for a national referendum on the issue.

Debate Is Dominated by Migration and Charges of Hypocrisy
Migration and border security are still at the heart of Polish politics. Since resuming his office in late 2023, Tusk and his centrist coalition have sought to tighten the controls, especially along the eastern border with Belarus, whose asylum rights for crossers are suspended.

For its part, PiS has shifted its attention to the western frontier with Germany, where rough checks were introduced in 2023. Top PiS officials, among them President Andrzej Duda, have accused Germany of shoving its migrant problem onto Poland and have repeatedly alleged Tusk is working in Germany's interest.

Tusk, in turn, called PiS hypocrites, referring to the scandal over visas during their governance between 2015 and 2023. An estimated 360,000 migrants from Asia and Africa could have illegally entered Poland through the issuance of local visas. "First, they brought hundreds of thousands of migrants in from Asia and Africa and made money from it with visas, now they are trying to paralyse our Border Guard. We cannot accept this," Tusk posted on social media.