US provides equipment and training to protect Polish border from migratory pressures

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The United States has donated $2.1 million worth of equipment for border protection, including drones and thermal imaging cameras, to Poland under an agreement signed on Tuesday.

The Polish border guard says that the package is part of a wider US programme, worth an estimated €12 million, to support Poland and the Baltic states in response to the migration crisis engineered by Russia’s ally Belarus on their borders.

“Stronger border security strengthens our shared security,” declared the US embassy in Warsaw, announcing the donation of equipment, which includes 45 drones and nine advanced thermal imaging cameras.

“This is just the next step in our security partnership,” they added. “Additional equipment, training, and expertise will follow.”

The Polish border guard also confirmed that the support includes training packages and bilateral study visits, as well as the delivery of 15 snowmobiles to Poland next year.

On Tuesday, it also hosted a delegation of senior figures from the US Border Patrol and US Customs and Border Protection for talks on “exchanging experiences, strengthening cooperation, and implementing advanced technologies in response to migratory pressures”.

Since 2021, Belarus has been encouraging and assisting migrants – mainly from Africa and Asia – to attempt to irregularly cross into the European Union over its borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Tens of thousands of attempted crossings have been reported each year.

In response, Poland has strengthened physical and electronic barriers along the border with Belarus. It has also eased rules on the use of firearms by uniformed officers to protect the border, and has temporarily banned asylum applications by people who irregularly cross from Belarus.

As a result of such efforts, attempted illegal crossings are down 98% so far this year, while Poland also claims to have a 100% success rate in apprehending migrants who do manage to cross.

After meeting with American officials on Tuesday, the Polish border guard said that the head of the US delegation, Jason E. Schneider, acting chief patrol agent for the US Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector, had praised Poland as a “model and benchmark” for dealing with migratory pressures.

It also noted that Stephanie Holmes, the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy, had noted Poland’s role “protecting the entire eastern flank of NATO and [acting] as a guarantor of transatlantic security”.

Belarus is a close ally of Russia, and the migration crisis engineered by Minsk on the EU and NATO’s eastern flank is seen as one element of the so-called “hybrid warfare” being waged by Moscow against the West.

The Polish border guard reported that, as well as donating equipment, the US has since 2024 been providing and financing “advanced tactical and technical training”, including “courses in border protection tactics”, for Polish officers.

Next month, they will provide training in operating the newly donated drones, which are being provided as part of a broader $12 million US programme to support Poland and the Baltic states in “direct response…to the situation on the Belarusian border”, said the Polish border guard.

In January this year, Polish officials also conducted study visits to El Paso and Detroit in the United States to “learn about methods used for counteracting illegal migration on the US borders with Mexico and Canada”. A further visit to the southern US border is scheduled for November.

In 2024, the EU itself announced that it would allocate €170 million to help member states neighbouring Russia and Belarus “counter hybrid threats from the weaponisation of migration”, which it said was being used “as a political tool to destabilise EU society”. Poland was allocated the largest share of the fund, with €52 million.

Last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Poland’s border with Belarus, where she thanked Warsaw for defending Europe from “cynical hybrid attacks” being orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who she called a “predator”.

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: Straż Graniczna

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is senior editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.