NPR

Here's what it's like for migrants trapped between Belarus and Poland

Thousands of migrants are camped along the border of Belarus and Poland, trapped between the countries. EU officials accuse Belarus of luring them across the border.
A man holding a child wipes his eye as the Kurdish family from Dohuk in Iraq waits for the border guard patrol, near Narewka, Poland, near the Polish-Belarusian border on Nov. 9. The three-generation family of 16 — with seven minors, including the youngest who is 5 months old — spent about 20 days in the forest and was pushed back to Belarus eight times.

For months, the government of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has accelerated the number of visas it grants migrants seeking refuge from war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond.

But the visas aren't being issued with the intention as a ploy to send large numbers of migrants to Poland and other EU members that border Belarus in retaliation for the bloc's economic sanctions.

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