Chile's migration policy continues, expelling the first group of foreigners

Santiago de Chile.- The government of the far-right José Antonio Kast deported this Thursday to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia the first migrants of his term who had committed crimes or administrative offenses in Chile, a policy that is not new and that began in previous administrations. The flight, which departed this Thursday from the airport of the Chilean Air Force (Fach) in Santiago, was traveling with 40 people (17 Bolivians, four Ecuadorians and 19 Colombians) and will make stops in La Paz, Guayaquil and Bogotá. The deportees had expulsion orders after having committed different administrative offenses or crimes, such as robbery with violence, receiving of motorized vehicles, drug trafficking, illegal carrying of weapons and ammunition, according to official data. “We have a commitment that we are going to fulfill: to intensify and have more flights as soon as possible in order to comply with the immigration regulation plan. There will also be bus departures,” announced Undersecretary of the Interior, Máximo Pavez, without giving details about the frequency of flights or buses. "The previous government's first expulsion flight was in the month of October of its first year in office. We, in the middle of our second month, already have our first flight of deportees," he added.

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During the administration of the progressive Gabriel Boric (2022-2026), more than twenty flights were carried out and nearly 4,500 people who had valid expulsion orders were deported, according to the National Migration Service (Sernamin). In 2025, the last full year in office, a total of 1,117 foreigners were expelled.

More than 75,000 Expulsion Orders

According to local media, there are more than 75,000 pending deportation orders, of which half correspond to Venezuelan citizens. Caracas broke diplomatic relations with Chile after the 2024 elections in the Caribbean country, so there are currently no consular services and it is impossible to deport those citizens with expulsion orders. "It is a priority to be able to have the necessary conversations (with Venezuela) and the corresponding Ministry is working on that to be able to open a path that allows us to expel Venezuelan citizens more expeditiously by air," he indicated without clarifying if there are already ongoing communications. Kast, the first far-right leader to come to power since the return to democracy, promised a firm hand against delinquency, organized crime, and irregular migration during his campaign and is building a strip in the Atacama desert, on the border with Peru and Bolivia. In Chile, there are currently more than 330,000 foreigners in an irregular situation, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The so-called "Border Shield Plan" of the leader of the Chilean Republican Party also includes the approval of a bill in progress to classify irregular migration as a crime and the implementation of "incentives" for foreigners in an illegal situation to leave Chile "voluntarily". The Undersecretary of the Interior assured this Wednesday that since Kast won the elections last December, a total of 2,180 Venezuelans have voluntarily left Chile.