Chile’s newly inaugurated president, José Antonio Kast, has taken his first major step on immigration, launching plans for a fortified barrier along the country’s northern border just days after entering office.
Standing near the frontier crossing at Chacalluta, Kast announced the start of his “Border Shield” initiative – a project designed to halt illegal crossings and clamp down on organised crime. The area has become a key route for migrants entering from Peru into one of South America’s most stable economies.
Work on the barrier remains in its early stages. Initial activity on Monday was limited to basic groundwork in the desert, with machinery beginning to carve trenches. However, officials say the full plan will combine physical obstacles, such as ditches and fencing, with aerial surveillance and military patrols.
Kast framed the move as a decisive shift in national policy, pledging rapid implementation. His administration has already invoked emergency powers to introduce a series of measures aimed at tightening border enforcement and accelerating the deportation of undocumented migrants.
Immigration has surged in Chile in recent years, with the foreign-born population rising sharply. Authorities estimate that hundreds of thousands of people are currently living in the country without legal status, many having fled economic hardship and political turmoil in Venezuela.
Alongside humanitarian arrivals, officials point to the presence of foreign criminal networks as a growing concern. While overall violence remains relatively low by regional standards, a rise in high-profile crimes - including kidnappings and contract killings - has unsettled the public and intensified political pressure for stricter controls.
Kast’s rapid push on border security underscores a broader rightward shift in Chilean politics, marking the country’s most conservative turn since the end of military rule in 1990, following the era of Augusto Pinochet.
The government insists the new measures are necessary to restore order and protect national security. Critics, however, argue that an aggressive enforcement strategy risks marginalising vulnerable migrants and could deepen divisions within Chilean society.
Icelanders will vote on Saturday, 29 August, on whether to resume negotiations with the European Union, in a referendum that could reopen...
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani is due in Tehran on Thur...
Israel is set to return the body of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy more than nine months after he was killed by Israeli forces and his remains were ...
Oil prices fell after the U.S. expanded economic sanctions on Iran, as Tehran vowed to retaliate and warned it had tools to respond, raising concerns over potential disruption to regional oil supplies.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told allied foreign ministers Washington will focus on sanctions and other pressure on Iran “for the time being”, Axios reports. Meanwhile, Iran and Oman have resumed talks on a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rescuers in Nepal used helicopters on Thursday to scour for hundreds still missing after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on the Himalayan border with China's Tibet, sending catastrophic floods through towns and valleys, killing 162 people.
Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. It comes as Britain and France pledged stronger military support for Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged 10 prisoners of war each in Belarus, Moscow's Human Rights Commissioner, Yana Lantratova, has said.
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a Reuters witness said, as Russia was hitting Ukraine with drones and missiles in the early hours of Thursday.
Icelanders will vote on Saturday, 29 August, on whether to resume negotiations with the European Union, in a referendum that could reopen the country’s long-debated membership question.
Israel is set to return the body of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy more than nine months after he was killed by Israeli forces and his remains were placed in Israeli custody, according to a Palestinian campaign seeking the return of bodies.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 27th of August, covering the latest developments.
Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles apologised to residents of Ceuta on Tuesday over the government’s handling of a mass migrant crossing from Morocco into the Spanish exclave in late July.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment