Deputy Foreign Minister Henryka Mościcka-Dendys told Polish broadcaster TOK FM radio that consular estimates suggest “up to 30,000” Poles residing in the U.S. might be affected. “These are often Poles who moved to the United States in the 1990s and never regulated their immigration status,” she said.
The warning follows Tuesday’s comments by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who directed Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski to ensure that Polish consulates in the U.S. are prepared for possible deportations. “We are organizing additional consular shifts, including outside consulate buildings,” Sikorski wrote on social media platform X, calling on Poles with expired passports to renew their documents.
A separate estimate came from Foreign Ministry spokesperson Paweł Wroński, who said on Thursday the number of affected Poles is “likely in the thousands, not tens of thousands.” However, Mościcka-Dendys emphasized on Friday that officials continue working to refine the assessment and “assume a maximum in the tens of thousands.”
Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday, signed several executive orders, including the declaration of a state of emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and changes to birthright citizenship rules. Under the new policy, children of illegal immigrants and certain short-term visitors may no longer automatically acquire U.S. citizenship by being born on American soil.
(jh)
Source: PAP