One day following the Chilean government announced the “Exception status” in various northern border towns and the implementation of the new immigration law, confusion and discontent increased among foreigners who arrived at the border crossings with Bolivia.
In Colchane, province of Tamarugal, dozens of migrants crowded without certainty waiting to enter the country or be redirected to Bolivia, as Efe was able to corroborate.
The day before, the Government announced the entry into force of the regulations of the new migration law, promoted by the conservative Sebastián Piñera to harden the borders.
In addition, it decreed a “state of exception”, a regime that allows the deployment of the Armed Forces, in four provinces: Tamarugal, El Loa, Arica and Parinacota, on the border of Chile with Bolivia and Peru, to the north.
These measures were taken following two days of stoppages and strikes by truckers who demanded more security on the roads and the curbing of migration through clandestine steps following the death on Thursday of a carrier during an alleged confrontation with a group of foreigners.
CONFUSION AT THE BORDER CROSSINGS
Despite the fact that the new migration law came into force in 2021, the approval of the regulation was lacking, which was published on Saturday in the official gazette and will allow expulsions to be speeded up and even “hot returns” to be made, without a judicial procedure.
Dozens of migrants told Efe that the police authorities guided them this Sunday to carry out a self-report process, where, if they were found to have a record, they would be returned to the neighboring country.
However, in the morning hours, the Colchane border complex closed its doors, triggering a demonstration by families and travelers who spent the night outdoors despite having a PCR test.
“We don’t have to pay for other people’s crimes. There are criminals everywhere, regardless of their nationality. We have come to support our families,” Andrea Durán, a young Venezuelan woman, who protested with her son, told Efe.
A total of 39 adults and an undetermined number of children were taken to Bolivia, although the authorities of that country did not clarify whether they would be received.
The chaos also took over the temporary camp set up by the government to serve migrants already in Colchane, which ended up collapsed following truck stoppages that prevented the transfer of people to long-stay shelters.
In these provinces and other areas of northern Chile there has been a strong migration crisis for months with the massive arrival of undocumented people and the holding of strikes once morest migration, trucker stoppages and xenophobic attacks.
The inclement highland passes of the north continue to form the main irregular entry route to Chile, which despite the pandemic and the social crisis of 2019, remains one of the most attractive countries to migrate within Latin America due to its political and economic stability.
In total there are 1.4 million migrants in the Latin American country, which is equivalent to more than 7% of the population, and Venezuelans are the most numerous, followed by Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians.
TRUCKER STRIKES CONTINUE
After two days of carrier strikes, traffic returned to normal in most of the country except in the Tarapacá region (north), where the demonstrations continued and the partial blockade of a regional airport suspended most of its operations. flights.
In parallel, and through a statement, the governors of Arica, Tarapacá and Antofagasta, the three northernmost regions, summoned Minister Delgado to make another of the announcements: the increase in police forces and the promised resources and infrastructure to combat crime. .
“We demand that the Government resolve this conflict in a serious and responsible manner, urgently implementing the announced measures,” they sentenced.
The state of emergency is still pending to be officially decreed by the president, something that is presumed to happen next week.
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