Ruptly
"The president of Chile, Jose Antonio Kast, defended his immigration policy at a press conference this Thursday and announced new measures to tighten border control and expedite the departure of people in irregular situations from the country. After enacting the 'Desalination Law' in the commune of Caldera in northern Chile, the president assured that his government has already begun to implement some of the measures promised during his presidential campaign, highlighting deportation flights of irregular migrants, increased controls at the northern border, and a decrease in clandestine entries into the country. "Planes (...) that will regularly depart with irregular immigrants. (...) border closure and (...) fewer clandestine entries (...) once we manage to organise everything related to migration, you will see how this starts to flow," said Kast. Kast also announced that migratory expulsions prioritise people with judicial or criminal records. "Clearly, people who are in an irregular situation, some of them with orders, pending cases with justice, are the first to leave," assured the president. At the location, the Head of State confirmed that the government will promote legal and even constitutional reforms to modify the current nationality system in Chile, moving away from 'jus soli' (right of the soil) to 'jus sanguinis' (right of blood). "Now the process of declaring clandestine entry as a crime has been accelerated (...) there is a discussion (...) with Congress on even constitutional reforms, to see if we continue with the same policy we have of 'jus soli' and move towards 'jus sanguinis'," reported the president. Finally, Kast also referred to diplomatic conversations with Venezuela to facilitate the return of expelled Venezuelan citizens, asking them to leave Chile voluntarily. According to a report by the Libertad y Desarrollo study centre in Chile from 2025, Venezuelans represent around 42 per cent of the migrant population in the country. Currently, about 1.9 million foreigners live in Chilean territory, and a large part comes from Venezuela, with about 75% of migrants in irregular situations being Venezuelans."
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