gotchanewsdaily.com 
He made it through the thick bogs and forests on the Polish-Belarusian border three years ago, just as migration was becoming a top political issue in Poland.
Historically a nation of emigrants, Poland is starting to pull in growing numbers of immigrants — ranging from asylum-seekers like Saad to millions of Ukrainian refugees escaping the war, to hundreds of thousands of people from across the world looking to benefit from its fast-growing economy. That demographic change in what was, until very recently, one of Europe’s most ethnically homogenous countries, is having a political impact.
“Ten years ago we had 100,000 migrants in Poland, today it’s 2.5 million people. We need to think about whether we are undermining social cohesion. It seems to me that this number is currently the borderline,” Maciej Duszczyk, the deputy interior minister, told Poland’s TVN television last year.
He was speaking as the government of PM Donald Tusk put forward its new migration policy until 2030, entitled: “Regaining control, ensuring safety.”
The politics surrounding migration will only get more intense. Poles elect their new president in May, and the issue is a top concern.
Tusk has moved to clamp down on asylum-seekers like Saad — following in the footsteps of his predecessors from the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.
