More than 4,000 Venezuelans who lived in Bogotá have been expelled or deported: what is the reason

Colombian Immigration officials carry out checks on the bridge that connects the towns of Cúcuta (Colombia) and San Antonio del Táchira (Venezuela), in a file photograph. EFE/Mario Caicedo

Bogota remains one of the cities that Venezuelans they choose in search of better economic, labor, educational conditions, among others. According to figures from Migración Colombia, they revealed that the number of foreign citizens who are in the capital without having legal documentation, To date, only the 18% regularly.

According to the entity’s statistics provided to Samir Abisambra, president of the Bogotá Council, it is estimated that as of August 31 of this year, 393,716 Venezuelan migrants are in the city, of which only 73,659 are found regularly, 67,452 are irregular and a total of 252,604 continue in the regularization process through the Temporary Protection Statute (ETP) in accordance with Decree 216 of 2021.

In addition, the report details information requested by the lobbyist, highlighting that the majority of Venezuelans living in Bogotá, regarding 125,699, are registered between an age range between 18 and 29 years, more than 70,900 minorsamong them 11,046 are children between zero and four years old.

Although Migration Colombia does not specify the economic conditions in which Venezuelans would be, this figure should be taken into account for the national and district authorities because, as both experts and official figures have previously warned, migrants would be increasing the numbers of the extreme poverty and monetary poverty in Bogotá.

With respect to 2021, the migrant population, especially the Venezuelan population, presented a higher poverty rate than the rest of the country, 7.5% for last year, that is to say that seven out of ten people from the neighboring country are below the poverty line.

Regarding the figures reported by the Police for Children and Adolescents in Bogotá, there were 173 cases of children, children and adolescents begging for others, between January 1 and July 30, 2022. Of the total, 90 are migrant population of Venezuelan origin, that is, 52% of those who are victims of this crime have Venezuelan nationality.

On the other hand, the figures from Migración Colombia made it clear that 4,234 Venezuelans have been expelled or deported from Bogotá. “Regarding Venezuelans deported in the city, from 2019 to 2021, 1,023 Venezuelans were deported and 3,211 were expelled for different reasons. Most were deported for irregular entry or exit, irregular stay and development of unauthorized activities”, Samir Abisambra said in this regard.

The statistics that were revealed are related to the x-ray on the problems experienced by the migrant population in the capital, disclosed by the Bogota Ombudsman.

For this reason, it was learned that the district Public Ministry detailed that, despite the fact that thousands of Venezuelan citizens have registered in the Temporary Statute of Protectionthe implementation process has presented a delay in the population’s access to the Temporary Protection Permit and the foregoing has generated barriers to the guarantee of the right to identification, health, work in decent conditions, education and private services.

It is worth mentioning that the Bogotá strategy was recently launched for the social, economic and cultural integration of the new Bogota citizens, that is, of the migrants, through the Intégrate Centers in the SuperCADE. With the Integrate strategy, access to education, health and job opportunities is facilitated.

In the same way, the capacity of attention is extended. The project will be available in three of the main points of the Red Cade, places where public entities of the district, national and private nature are articulated to provide comprehensive care to citizens.

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