Heine Comments on New Chilean Immigration Law
On April 23, 2021, Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was featured in the Latin America Advisor – a publication of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington D.C. think tank – addressing a question on Chile’s migration policy.
Heine responded to the publication’s feature Q&A, which asked about a a new law signed into effect by Chilean President Sebastián Piñera that seeks to combat illegal migration into the country. When asked to comment on this matter, Heine welcomed the new immigration law stating that Chile’s current immigration system is broke. He said that the new law establishes a National Immigration Service and procedures to regularize the situation of foreigners who entered Chile prior to March 20, 2020, both of which have long been absent from the current system.
An excerpt:
Chile has traditionally been a country of immigrants, but over the past decade this has become especially so, as large numbers of Venezuelans (455,000), Peruvians (235,000), Haitians (185,000), and Colombians (160,000), among others, are attracted by economic opportunity. Immigrants now make up 7.8 percent of Chile’s population, or 1.5 million people. A proper immigration system was badly overdue, and the government of President Sebastián Piñera should be commended for this law.
The full issue of the Latin America Advisor can be read on the Dialogue’s website.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more about Ambassador Heine on his Pardee School faculty profile.