The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, said on Wednesday that her government approved decreeing a state of emergency in border areas, which will allow the police and military to carry out operations to curb illegal migration.
Boluarte’s announcement comes at a time when hundreds of migrants – including Venezuelans, Colombians and Haitians according to local police – are stranded on the border with Chile trying to enter the country.
The state of emergency includes the border areas with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile, including the regions of Tumbes, Piura, Cajamarca, Amazonas, Loreto, Madre de Dios and Tacna, the Peruvian president specified.
Boluarte also stated at a press conference that rmade some changes in its immigration policysuch as allowing “in a peremptory term” that foreign citizens who entered illegally or legally can regularize their situation.
According to official data, Peru is home to 1.7 million foreigners, of which 1.5 million are from Venezuela and entered the country with documents, the majority since 2017 when the government of then-President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski granted a temporary permit. of permanence to Venezuelan migrants.
But many have not regularized their documents and thousands of other Venezuelans – the government estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 – have entered illegally across the border with Ecuador.
“These measures will allow us to regularize and identify foreigners who are in an irregular situation, as well as encourage formality in immigration control and in the labor market,” said Boluarte at the Government Palace.
Peru has become the second destination for Venezuelan migrants after Colombia.
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