The chamber voted 366–17 to prolong the restriction, with 77 deputies abstaining.
The regulation, first introduced on March 27, will now run for a further 60 days and allows border guards to refuse applications for international protection along designated stretches of the 418-kilometer border, except for unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, and other "vulnerable" persons.
'No corridor into Poland or EU': interior minister
“It is a crucial tool for the effective defense of the border,” Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak wrote on social media after the vote.
“A strong signal to the promoters of irregular migration and smugglers: there is no corridor into Poland or the EU.”
Warsaw and the European Union accuse Russian ally Belarus of waging a "hybrid attack" and deliberately funneling migrants from the Middle East and Africa to the frontier in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed 2020 re-election.
Since the crisis erupted in mid-2021, Poland has erected a EUR 350 million (USD 400 million) steel fence topped with razor wire and deployed thousands of troops and police to the area.
Rights groups say pushbacks and the asylum ban violate international refugee law and have led to deaths in the dense Białowieża Forest straddling the Polish-Belarusian border.
The government argues that anyone seeking refuge can apply legally at official border crossings outside the restricted zone, although most crossings with Belarus remain closed due to international tensions and security concerns.
(jh/gs)
Source: IAR