Illegal immigration “harms Chileans and the migrants themselves,” said the Chilean president.
By:
EFE
–
–
The president of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, said this Thursday 20-A that the immigration reform promoted by the ruling party in Parliament seeks to “order the house” and prevent irregular migration, at a time when the country faces the biggest economic crisis in four decades for the pandemic.
“We want to put our house in order, because there was a time when migration was uncontrolled and many people entered Chile illegally, which constitutes a deception for those people and I think that is not what the country needs.” the conservative president said at a press conference.
Illegal immigration “harms Chileans and the migrants themselves,” noted Piñera, who previously used the controversial expression “tidying up the house” to refer to immigration problems.
In Chile, a country that until the protests last October was very attractive to migrate due to its political and economic stability, there are 1.4 million migrants, which is equivalent to more than 7% of the population.
Venezuelans are the most numerous, followed by Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians, according to the Department of Immigration and Migration (DEM).
During his first term in the 2010-2014 period, Piñera presented a bill to modify immigration policy, the discussion of which was suspended for seven years and which has now been taken up by the Senate, amid criticism from the opposition and civil society .
The current Migration Law, one of the oldest in Latin America, was designed in 1975 during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), when Chile hardly received migrants, and has been updated over the years but without major structural changes.
“Those who want to come to live in our country have to begin by respecting our laws and by respecting our rule of law,” added the leader, who approved as soon as he came to power for his second non-consecutive term in 2018, some decrees to restrict the issuance of visas to Venezuelans and Haitians.
The slowdown in the economy due to the pandemic, which has already caused more than 390,000 infected and 10,671 deaths in the country, caused a historical collapse of 14.1% in Chilean GDP during the second quarter of 2020 and led to unemployment at 12, 2% in June, its worst figure in a decade.
Still, the authorities believe that migration could increase in the coming months as the situation of the neighbors is worse.
A study by the University of Talca (center) revealed on Wednesday that more than 30% of migrants living in Chile lost their jobs during the pandemic and that, despite their precariousness, 60% of those consulted would not return to their country originally.
In this context, the ruler assured that the opposition proposal to approve the so-called “labor tourism” is unfeasible, as it would allow to regularize the situation of “anyone who appears at the border and says they want to look for work.”
“That is not what Chileans want (…) In the times we live in today we have a gigantic challenge of creating jobs to recover the 1.8 million jobs we have lost,” he concluded.
– .
