Travelers face checks on Lithuanian-Polish border as Warsaw re-introduces border controls

BUDZISKO, Poland – Vehicles are randomly stopped and checked on the Lithuanian-Polish border as Poland re-introduces border controls on this border for a month on Monday due to secondary migration.

Many drivers and travelers interviewed by BNS at the Budzisko border checkpoint on the Polish side said they were aware of the checks and planned their travel times accordingly.

There were no huge numbers of vehicles at this checkpoint by midday and there were no major lines on the way out Lithuania.

The checks take place immediately after crossing the border on the Polish side where there is a large car park. Here, the carriageway narrows to one lane and there are signs warning of the checks.

All cars are directed to the car park and undergo an initial check without the driver being asked for documents. After Polish border guards check cars, most of them are allowed to continue their journey.

Some cars, with a greater focus on vans, are diverted by the border guards for document checks and inspection of the load.

Some HGVs are also checked at the roadside, taking an average of three minutes. Once the vehicle is the parking lot, the checks take a few more minutes. A passenger bus was also stopped, but borer guards only checked the driver's documents.

When a BNS reporter and a photographer arrived at the border crossing point at around 9 a.m., two Polish police and seven border guards were working at the checkpoint, and documents were checked in a container room.

"We heard they are stopping cars because of refugees from Latvia, we heard things from media reports. They asked us for our ID documents, and we have been standing here for maybe ten minutes. They haven't checked the car yet, maybe they will do it later," Darius Klapatauskas, 55, who works in the chemical industry, told BNS.

He refrained from commenting on whether such measures were necessary and noted that it would be unpleasant if the checks lasted more than half an hour and was not known in advance.

"If it takes a short period of time, it's no big deal. But if it takes longer, of course it is unpleasant. 10-15 minutes is fine, but if it's more than half an hour... Of course, if it was a surprise, it would be unpleasant again, but since we had heard something, we were ready, we left a little earlier," the man said.

A 47-year-old Polish man working in Finland, driving a ban with Finnish registration plates, who only gave his name as Lukas, said that border guards were checking every car, adding that he was aware that the reintroduced checks were linked to the immigration problem, but said that more attention should be paid to Poland's southern border.

"Maybe not from this side (there is no migration problem - BNS), it would be better to check the southern border. Lithuania is a normal country, probably nobody is accepting migrants from here," he said.

Auris, 50, a car repairer in his 50s, said he had no problem with the Polish side checking vehicles for illegal migrants.

"They can check them, they can check everyone. (...) It's no big deal, it was quick," the driver said.

The Polish Border Guard Service said on X that around 620 people and 400 vehicles were checked at the Lithuanian border from midnight until 7 a.m., and around 350 people and 160 vehicles were checked at the German border.

Polish border guards says checks at 65 checkpoints in Germany and 13 in Lithuania are being carried out without incidents and traffic is moving smoothly.

JUST ANOTHER NONSENSE

Polish border guards also checked the semi-trailer of the lorry driven by Bronius Kasparas Lelus, 21, looking for illegal migrants.

"Speaking of illegal immigrants, they are doing this mainly because of Latvians, because I have heard that Latvians are taking them. They asked for a passport and load documents, but nothing else. They told me to open the semi-trailer. It took seven minutes, they have not handed over the documents yet, so it remains to be seen how long it will take," the man said.

"Depending on how long they will hold it, if it's really five minutes, it's not too bad, we can stop, there's no problem with that. But if it is longer, of course it is a nuisance," the driver said, adding that checks longer than half an hour or more would cause inconvenience.

"WE DON'T CONSIDER THESE LINES"

Erlandas Mikenas, president of Linava, Lithuania's national road carriers' association, also came to Budzisko to assess the situation, and told reporters that "it's actually a relief because the traffic is moving well".

"Even though vehicles stopped for a few minutes create some lines. However, I came from Vilnius and we felt the traffic slow down considerably only on approach to the Kalvarija checkpoint, so we don't consider such lines as lines," Mikenas said.

"In this case, border guards are checking for illegal migrants. As far as I have noticed, HGVs pass in a separate line and they are not stopped. They are randomly stopped, maybe one or another," he noted.

As BNS reported earlier, Lithuaian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic said over the weekend that border controls would be restored for a month, until August 5.

ESTONIAN MAN DETAINED FOR ALLEGEDLY SMUGGLING MIGRANTS

Giedrius Misutis, spokesman for the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, told BNS that, according to initial information, Polish border guards detained an Estonian national at around 10 a.m. on Monday as he was allegedly taking four illegal migrants from Afghanistan.

According to Misutis, the Estonian national was detained at one of the smaller Lithuanian-Polish border crossing points.

The Afghan men had tried to cross the Belarusian-Polish border two months ago but failed to do so, and the Belarusian authorities took them to the Latvian border, from where they tried to re-enter Poland via Lithuania.

Once the procedures are completed, the detained Afghans will be handed over to the Lithuanian side under the readmission procedure.

As BNS reported earlier, Poland temporarily re-introduced border controls on its borders with Germany and Lithuania on July 7 to stop illegal migration from Belarus. Checks are being carried out at 13 locations.

According to data released by the SBGS last week, a total of 352 irregular migrants who entered Latvia from Belarus and then attempted to reach Western Europe via Lithuania and Poland were detained in the first half of 2025.

Compared to the first half of 2024, when 140 such migrants were detained, the flow of irregular secondary migration from Latvia increased by two and a half times in January-June this year.

The influx of irregular migrants into the EU's eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021 and is blamed by the West on the Minsk regime.