**5. One-Side Open Border—Deportability and Detainability in the Time of the Pandemic**

Although the admission of migrants to Poland was very limited during the pandemic, the reverse practice was very much business as usual. Various types of expulsions from the territory of Poland continued throughout the entire period, also during the full closure of the borders. Between 15 March and 15 June 2020, a total of 799 people were expelled from Poland—the vast majority by land to neighbouring countries, mainly to Ukraine (KGSG 2021). While some countries, such as the Netherlands, suspended deportations in the first phase of the pandemic, i.e., spring 2020 (Kalir 2020), Poland did not follow this path. This was probably due to the exact fact that many people could be expelled by land to one of the neighbouring countries.

One of the forms of bordering practices is placing migrants in detention centres. This measure is not only intended to deter illegal border crossings (Bosworth et al. 2018), but also to facilitate the expulsion process (De Genova 2019). Worldwide, the facilities introduced a range of practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Spain followed the path of full abolition, and all detained immigrants were released (Brandariz and Fernández-Bessa 2021). In the US, a lot depended on the courts, but overall, the number of migrants in the said facilities had decreased; the courts also ordered the release of all children who had been in detention for more than 20 days (Parmet 2020, p. 242). By contrast, Poland recorded no spike in the number of people released from detention due to the pandemic.

When the first wave came in spring there were releases which were off the record, so to speak. What happened was they released a fair number of people, but it was all hush-hush, [ ... ] and nobody would admit officially that it was because of the pandemic.
