The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted global movement, thus affecting migration processes and immigrants themselves. The paper focuses on the evaluation of bordering procedures and practices introduced by the Polish government in the time of the pandemic. The aim is to highlight the duality...

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Autor principal:	Witold Klaus
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	border practices asylum seekers economic migrants Poland pushbacks at the border COVID-19 pandemic Social Sciences H
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/27c828c50ae745c4abae7cd3ea3d45bf
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:27c828c50ae745c4abae7cd3ea3d45bf2021-11-25T18:59:50ZThe Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-1910.3390/socsci101104352076-0760https://doaj.org/article/27c828c50ae745c4abae7cd3ea3d45bf2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/11/435https://doaj.org/toc/2076-0760The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted global movement, thus affecting migration processes and immigrants themselves. The paper focuses on the evaluation of bordering procedures and practices introduced by the Polish government in the time of the pandemic. The aim is to highlight the duality in the admission processes at Polish borders between labour and forced migrants, which have been driven, as I argue, by economic interests and the xenophobic attitudes of the government. The paper is based on interviews with experts assisting migrants during the pandemic in Poland, whose direct contact with thousands of clients has allowed them to acquire broad knowledge of how the new legal provisions have affected different groups of immigrants. The data confirms that the Polish border is very porous. It has been almost completely closed to asylum seekers, especially those fleeing from Muslim countries, for whom the only option is to cross the border illegally. Only one exception was made for Belarusians, who were cordially welcomed at the border while escaping persecution in their home country in the wake of their protests against Lukashenko’s regime. Economic migrants, on the other hand, exist on the other side of the spectrum. For immigrant workers, borders have remained open throughout the whole pandemic. Moreover, some further measures facilitating their arrival were introduced, such as de facto lifting of quarantine for seasonal farm workers.Witold KlausMDPI AGarticleborder practicesasylum seekerseconomic migrantsPolandpushbacks at the borderCOVID-19 pandemicSocial SciencesHENSocial Sciences, Vol 10, Iss 435, p 435 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	border practices asylum seekers economic migrants Poland pushbacks at the border COVID-19 pandemic Social Sciences H
spellingShingle	border practices asylum seekers economic migrants Poland pushbacks at the border COVID-19 pandemic Social Sciences H Witold Klaus The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
description	The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted global movement, thus affecting migration processes and immigrants themselves. The paper focuses on the evaluation of bordering procedures and practices introduced by the Polish government in the time of the pandemic. The aim is to highlight the duality in the admission processes at Polish borders between labour and forced migrants, which have been driven, as I argue, by economic interests and the xenophobic attitudes of the government. The paper is based on interviews with experts assisting migrants during the pandemic in Poland, whose direct contact with thousands of clients has allowed them to acquire broad knowledge of how the new legal provisions have affected different groups of immigrants. The data confirms that the Polish border is very porous. It has been almost completely closed to asylum seekers, especially those fleeing from Muslim countries, for whom the only option is to cross the border illegally. Only one exception was made for Belarusians, who were cordially welcomed at the border while escaping persecution in their home country in the wake of their protests against Lukashenko’s regime. Economic migrants, on the other hand, exist on the other side of the spectrum. For immigrant workers, borders have remained open throughout the whole pandemic. Moreover, some further measures facilitating their arrival were introduced, such as de facto lifting of quarantine for seasonal farm workers.
format	article
author	Witold Klaus
author_facet	Witold Klaus
author_sort	Witold Klaus
title	The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
title_short	The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
title_full	The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
title_fullStr	The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed	The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19
title_sort	porous border woven with prejudices and economic interests. polish border admission practices in the time of covid-19
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/27c828c50ae745c4abae7cd3ea3d45bf
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The Porous Border Woven with Prejudices and Economic Interests. Polish Border Admission Practices in the Time of COVID-19

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