translated from Spanish: Hundreds march in Santiago to demand better treatment of migrants

Hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday in Santiago against the government’s immigration policy, where they demanded the “end of institutional racism” and denounced the plight of the migrant community, and specially the one stranded on the border with Peru.
“We are immigrants, we are not criminals” was one of the most repeated chants during the peaceful march that took place in the morning through the center of Santiago and that developed without incident.
Different social organizations called for the mobilization during the week, in response to the imminent closure of the Extraordinary Regularization Process promoted by the Government, which aims to legalize the stay of 300 thousand immigrants from various countries resident in the country.
The initiative approved last year had a deadline next Monday and was rated by the National Immigrant Coordinator as a “failure”, as the number of those who have regularized their situation does not reach half the expected.
Mainly, they continued, for the high number of rejected without clear reasons, as most of them meet the requirements.
However, last Friday the head of the Department of Foreign and Migration, Alvaro Ballolio, announced the executive’s decision to extend the deadline by 90 more days, until October 22, as about “10,000 people” still “expect to be served to regularize visas.”
A decision that was applauded by social organizations, who nonetheless called for maintaining mobilizations in the face of “expulsion of migrants with Chilean relatives”.
As well as the delay in the “resolution of requests for refuge”, “institutional racism” and “persecution of migrant workers”.
While emphasizing the situation of “humanitarian crisis” that has been experienced on the border between Chile and Peru over the last month, where hundreds of immigrants, mainly Venezuelans, are settled on the street waiting to be able to enter the country.

Original source in Spanish