Overview
- Speaking in Buenos Aires on Monday after meeting Argentina’s Javier Milei, President José Antonio Kast said Chile will move step by step to expel irregular migrants in the coming weeks and urged them to leave voluntarily.
- He warned that those who do not depart will lose the chance to stay in Chile and said people should reapply for residency from abroad, a shift reporters say could leave thousands without protection or income.
- He revived a campaign proposal for a land ‘humanitarian corridor’ to route departures through Peru, Ecuador, or Colombia, and he said restored flights to Venezuela could ease the need for such overland transfers.
- Peru’s foreign minister, Hugo de Zela, said in March that Peru lacks capacity to receive more migrants and told Kast as much, highlighting a key obstacle to any corridor that would require neighbors to accept people in transit.
- The push marks a turn to tighter enforcement after years of large inflows to Chile, especially from Venezuela, and it now hinges on regional coordination that could decide whether returns proceed by air or leave people stranded at borders.