Cities' migration policies in a country with a deficit of migration policy. The case of Poland.

Poland is currently characterized by no migration policy in a form of an officially approved document as well as by the dominating anti‐immigrant rhetoric expressed by the ruling party leaders. The aim of this paper was to show how Polish cities deal with the unprecedented migration influx in the context of lack of officially approved national level strategy. As the cities' authorities attitudes vary from accepting migration as economically beneficial to treating migrants as part of the urban population, the unclear state policy is recognized by some as a silent permission of the state to incorporate of migrants. Officially it could not be seen a part of state policy as it is contradicting the anti‐immigration rhetoric. Our paper shows also how the cities' policies clash with the state approach and policies, in particular at the local level, where the state administration may jeopardize the welcoming messages sent by city authorities towards migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]