US deportations of Polish citizens almost double this year amid Trump clampdown

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The number of Polish citizens ordered to leave the United States has almost doubled this year amid President Donald Trump’s immigration clampdown, according to figures from the Polish foreign ministry.

In response to a parliamentary inquiry from Marta Stożek, an MP from the left-wing Together (Razem) party, deputy foreign minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski revealed that “the number of Polish citizens obliged to leave the US…in 2025 is approximately 130”, compared to around 70 in 2024.

“In recent months, numerous media reports and accounts from Polish communities have appeared indicating an intensification of actions by American immigration services against Polish citizens,” added Bartoszewski, quoted by the Fakt newspaper.

In a separate statement to news website Interia, the foreign ministry confirmed that around 130 Polish citizens had been deemed undesirable and left the US in the fiscal year from November 2024 to October 2025, compared to 70 in the previous fiscal year.

Most of them left voluntarily after being identified by the US immigration authorities – so-called “self-deportation” – ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór told Interia.

“We are seeing that the number of Poles obliged to leave the US has increased,” he added.

In most cases, the reason for their expulsion is that they stayed in the US beyond the length of their visa.

“We are witnessing raids and arrests in places that were previously considered safe havens – near schools, preschools, and places of worship,” Dominik Stecuła, a Polish-born political scientist at Ohio University, told Interia. “This is a deliberate strategy to intimidate entire communities, targeting children and families.”

During an ICE operation in Chicago last month, Tomasz Kmiecik, a well-known children’s entertainer and dance teacher known as “Super Tomasz”, was detained in the car park of the Polish preschool where he worked, reported Biały Orzeł, a Polish diaspora newspaper.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Homeland Security announced the “record-breaking achievement of more than 2.5 million illegal aliens leaving the US” this year. Among those, 605,000 were forcibly deported and 1.9 million “voluntarily self-deported”.

In his statement, Bartoszewski also revealed that, as of 6 November, 68 Poles were in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Polish diplomatic missions are constantly monitoring the situation of Polish citizens undergoing deportation procedures and providing them with the necessary support in accordance with Polish, local and international regulations,” he wrote.

In January this year, shortly after Trump returned to the White House, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that he had instructed consulates in the United States to prepare to assist citizens in case of potential deportations.

There are estimated to be around 400,000 Polish-born people in the United States (as well as many more people born in the US with Polish ancestry). Polish diaspora groups have reported on a number of cases this year in which Poles have been subjected to deportation.

Last month, 52-year-old Mariusz Wojdan, who has lived in the US for three decades, was detained in Chicago. Rather than being imprisoned in Texas, he agreed to voluntary deportation to Poland.

His wife and six children, two of whom suffer from spinal muscular atrophy, have now decided to move to Poland with him. But they require special medical transport, and have launched a fundraiser to help pay for it.

Last month, another Polish diaspora newspaper, Tygodnik Express, reported that in some cases members of the Polish community are reporting fellow Poles who are in the country illegally to the authorities.

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: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Flickr (under public domain)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.