Chile axes plans to grant legal status to 200,000

Chile’s new right-wing government said yesterday it will cancel plans to grant legal status to tens of thousands of migrants who entered the country irregularly.

The previous leftist government of president Gabriel Boric had prepared a decree giving the green light to 182,000 people who applied for legal status.

But the new government of Jose Antonio Kast, who campaigned with a pledge to crack down on immigration, will not act on this decree, the Migration Service told AFP.

“We are not going to proceed with a massive granting of residency papers as proposed by the Boric government,” Migration Service director Frank Sauerbaum said.

Earlier this month Kast ordered the start of construction of new barriers on the Peruvian border.

Kast has vowed to crack down on immigration from Peru and Bolivia to create a “border shield.”

Kast has also pledged to take action to stem the rise in murders, kidnappings and extortion, which he blames on undocumented immigrants.

Kast’s election brought the most right-wing president to power in Chile since the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, from 1973 to 1990.

According to government estimates, there are around 337,000 foreign nationals in Chile who lack residency papers.