Irregular migration in Chile: the state of emergency on the northern border has been lifted, but military deployment will continue

The Chilean government lifted on Friday the state of emergency that began in February to control irregular migration in four provinces in the north of the country, but will maintain military deployment in the area.

In force since February 16 and extended twice, the state of emergency allowed the deployment of soldiers and more police on the northern border with Bolivia and Peru, where thousands of migrants, mainly Venezuelans, cross on foot for inhospitable clandestine deadlines to the Chilean provinces of Arica, Parinacota, Tamarugal and El Loa.

“The state of emergency ends, but the government will keep Decree 265 in force, which allows the maintenance of all police personnel, but also all personnel of the Armed Forces and all the support equipment for border control,” said Manuel Monsalve, Undersecretary of the Interior.

Military deployment will maintain collaboration with civil and police authorities to control activities that are linked to the smuggling of migrants, and drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, according to Decree 265.

The end of the state of emergency coincides with the announcement of the opening since May 1 of the borders with Argentina, Bolivia and Peru that remained closed due to restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic.

In addition, since last Thursday, sanitary measures to enter Chile have been relaxed, such as not requesting the PCR exam or requesting the approval of vaccines.

Many poor migrants who enter Chile irregularly settle to live in precarious camps on beaches and squares in the north of the country, which has caused discomfort to some of the local population. In Iquique and other cities there have been protests in rejection of the massive presence of foreigners.

A new migration law allows the Chilean authorities to “redirect” to the border all migrants who have entered irregular shape to the country.

This regulation was enacted in April last year. The one in 1975 was in force and it was one of the observations made by the political class in order not to be able to deal with the entry of migrants through illegal passage into Chile.

The changes made to this law are: ensuring access to defense for foreigners who are detained when reviewing their documents, broadening the spectrum of immigrants who will be able to access family reunification, eliminating the requirement that citizens of other countries who do not have a hotel reservation must have a letter of notarized invitation of a resident and the removal of the obligation for public officials to report violations committed by foreigners, are some of the modifications between the withdrawn text and the re-entered text.

(With information from AFP)

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