Within the framework of the Critical Infrastructure Law – which allows the Chilean Armed Forces to protect the country’s border area by government decree – the Chilean Army began its deployment yesterday at different points on the border with Peru, in the Arica region and Parinacotta.
According to what was indicated by the Executive, the troops will contribute to the reinforcement of police control on the highways, with the aim of carrying out the respective controls on people who move across the border, that is, to protect and control irregular migration.
Among the main problems that President Gabriel Boric faced when he came to power almost a year ago is uncontrolled immigration in the extreme north of Chile. To regularize immigration, the president has presented several bills, the last of which granted powers to the Armed Forces to control the multiple illegal passages along its porous northern border.
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, and the deputy Defense Minister, Gabriel Gaspar, traveled to the town of Cariquima, near Colchane, some 2,000 kilometers north of the Chilean capital, to be present at the deployment of the military. Upon his arrival, Tohá declared that the government hopes that the military presence “has a deterrent effect.” “It is not prohibited to enter Chile, but what is prohibited is to do so through irregular steps,” she added.
The military used for border control were already distributed in sectors of the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá and Antofagasta, where the greatest illegal immigration occurs, but they did not have special powers and only collaborated with the police. The decree that allows the use of the Armed Forces will be in force for 90 days and can be extended with the support of Congress.
The military will be able to carry out identity checks on people who suspect that they entered through irregular steps, they will search the luggage and if they see signs of a crime, Tohá said, they will arrest them and transfer them to the police within a maximum period of 24 hours.
In extreme cases, the Armed Forces may use firearms as a last option and following completing several previous steps, including verbal warnings, use of smoke grenades, pepper spray, batons, electrical devices, paint projectiles, riot control weapons. and fire warning shots.
For his part, Gaspar explained that the first military contingent was trained by the uniformed police and that, if necessary, new groups will be trained.
Lawyer Rodolfo Noriega, of the Fundación Defensoría Migrantes, told The Associated Press that what the government is doing is “continuing to criminalize migration.”
Almost 1.5 million migrants live in Chile, including some 500,000 Venezuelans who mostly regularized their situation.
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