translated from Spanish: Migration crisis and absence of State

The immigration crisis that Chile is experiencing has a main reason: the absence of a State and the erratic measures adopted to govern the problem; in addition to porous legislation on access and filing. All measures of a provisional nature, a fact that has been repeated for 20 years. No democratic government was right in the diagnosis, despite the fact that Peruvian immigration, during the decade of the 90s of the last century, was a clear foretaste of what could come upon us in later years. 
The massive displacement of people between countries is due to political violence, economic crises, linked to problems of governance and internal poverty, or by expulsion of citizens from “failed states”, seeking destination to stable countries, as Chile has been during the last decades, with options – at least at the level of expectations – to give opportunities to improve the living conditions of immigrants (in addition to receiving the virtuous contribution of the majority). of those immigrants). 
Immigration at the global level is a human right, and at the local level it is a matter of State, which in the first place concerns the internal public order of each country, and, therefore, in Chile it corresponds rightly to the Ministry of the Interior. Not as a police problem but as a comprehensive public policy and criteria for entry and permanence in the country. 
This, in the face of exceptionally massive migratory situations, requires executive actions that allow the problem to be governed. The State of Chile and the current Government do not have them and simply omit to consider them. The consultation of the Judiciary about how they saw the problem, going through the statements of Minister Delgado, accusing the building authorities and the regional governors of the northern zone of playing into the hands of illegal migrants (for not aligning with government expulsion policies), speak of an Executive Branch overwhelmed and lacking in political criteria. 
A migratory avalanche such as the one that is taking place in the north of the country forces the application of humanitarian norms, in addition to exceptional and effective public order measures. Along with a rigorous control of border crossings, decent reception centers must be set up to concentrate and address the immediate situation. Among other things, preventing immigrants from wandering around the city, overnight and obstructing the normal life of the city; that allow them to be registered, give them food and medical care, and generate closed administrative and physical perimeters, with security for both migrants and the inhabitants of the city. Temporary but not precarious reception centers, orderly and clean, under police surveillance, with control and strict operating regulations, almost like a prolonged waiting room, while their migratory status is considered. Which certainly does not exclude expulsion, but only if there are clear and justified reasons. 
The diplomatic and intelligence cooperation channel must also be activated with neighboring States, and with those where migration originates. This, because it is possible that we are facing the action of criminal gangs dedicated to human trafficking, as it seems that it is already happening in the north of our country, and that both do not know or prefer to neglect. Diplomatic action should summon the responsibility of neighbouring or originating States, in order to avoid the use of their territories as transit zones or gatherings of persons for trafficking, with omission or collusion of their police or administrative authorities. The Chilean Foreign Ministry should also initiate an action of consultation and solidarity with international organizations of regional or global cooperation, in order to promote common mitigation actions. We are facing a situation that the international crisis of poverty, failed states and climate change can worsen.
Militarization or the indiscriminate expulsion of immigrants are not the solution, even less so for a government whose President went to the Colombian-Venezuelan border to deliver humanitarian aid packages, to show his opposition to Nicolás Maduro, and to promise Chile’s solidarity and welcome to all Venezuelans who wanted to come. He even accredited ambassador of the Government in exile.
It is true that everything indicates that today there is also, in addition to the crisis of income, reception and the processes of adaptation and integration of migrants, a third scenario, which is a criminal crisis. Composed mainly of the infiltration of migration as a platform for control practices mafia of micro-commerce (usurious microcredits), distribution of public spaces for informal trade (paid control of the street and the exercise of informal trade) and criminal practices of assassination, drug microtrafficking, clandestine gambling and prostitution. No one is in a position to assure that this is a planned fact or not. 
This situation is not only combated with police but also with intelligence instruments that allow the accumulation of practical evidence, usable in the application of the law. Hence, referring migration, which today exceeds one million people, to registration, assistance and guidance centers, is one of the few solutions to stabilize the problem immediately and focus actions.

Original source in Spanish

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