U.S. President Donald Trump’s fight against illegal immigration has some Poles in the U.S. living that they may be deported.
According to Do Rzezczy, 50 Polish citizens have been investigated this year by ICE, which remains a very small number compared to other group.
In 2025 so far, over 35,000 Mexican citizens were arrested, primarily for illegal border crossings, organized crime, and returning to the U.S. after deportation.
Nevertheless, 10 Poles were also arrested, 14 were placed under temporary detention, 11 were deported, and 15 were placed under the Intensive Detention Program (ATD), which allows the services to monitor compliance with the law without placing foreigners in custody.
And this has many Poles worrying that they may be next.
One of the most recent cases was the deportation of 62-year-old Irina Sobierajska, who was repatriated to Poland after living nearly 20 years illegally in the U.S.
However, Americans are broadly supportive of mass deportations of illegal migrants and Trump clearly has a mandate for such actions based on his election victory.
“Besides confirming that the deportation order was executed and she boarded a plane to Poland, we don’t know what happened to her,” Amaya Kuznicki from ClickonDetroit.com told WP.
Among the Polish American community, reports of denunciations to the so-called “immigrants” – the ICE service – are becoming increasingly common. Meanwhile, Polish online groups are increasingly offering advice on how to prepare for a possible ICE arrest – from having documents for children born in the U.S. to receiving letters from neighbors.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has even developed a special informational leaflet about the rights of individuals affected by the services.
At the beginning of the year, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated that there were approximately 30,000 Poles living in the U.S. who may have violated immigration regulations.
Data from ICE indicates that 2,300 Polish citizens are on the deportation list—people for whom an immigration judge has issued a final order of removal from the United States.
