Three years in prison for feeding a migrant? The Ministry of Interior and Administration is preparing a new law

Prison for helping a migrant

Serving a hot meal or warming a migrant can result in up to three years in prison. This will be the effect of the regulation proposed by the Ministry of Interior and Administration. Lawyers are outraged - we read in Tuesday's edition of "Rzeczpospolita".

Article 264a of the Penal Code provides that anyone who, in order to obtain financial or personal gain, enables or facilitates another person's stay in the territory of Poland contrary to the regulations, shall be punished with up to five years in prison. The government wants to tighten this provision so that it covers actions against illegal migrants that are not related to financial gain, the newspaper reminds.

Against activists and residents of border areas

According to "Rz", Czesław Mroczek, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, in his comments on the draft amendment to the Penal Code. developed by the Ministry of Justice, submitted proposals for key changes.

One of them provides for adding to Art. 264a § 1a reading: Whoever, knowing that another person is staying in the territory of the Republic of Poland contrary to the regulations, enables or facilitates his further stay, shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years.

According to the Ministry of Interior and Administration, this amendment will allow for a more effective fight against migrant smuggling. "Currently, the above behavior is not penalized, which creates a gap for people who take advantage of such situations and, under the pretext of helping migrants, help them stay illegally and constitute a starting point for further illegal migration to Western European countries," Rz quotes the deputy minister as saying.