Nearly Everybody in Chile Wants More Restrictions on Immigration

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(Bloomberg) -- Chileans are demanding stricter immigration controls much more than neighbors in other Latin American nations, according to a new poll, as an influx of newcomers upends politics in one of the region’s richest economies.

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Nearly 96% of respondents in Chile said the country needs a more restrictive immigration policy, far exceeding the 68% in Colombia, 65% in Argentina and roughly 41% in Mexico who held the same view, according to LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News and published Thursday.

About 80% said that new arrivals hurt Chile’s economy and employment, while more than half said they are detrimental for its culture.

Chileans are pushing back against immigration after its foreign-born population jumped 25% between 2018 and 2022, driven by a surge in Venezuelans, according to the latest data from the national statistics agency. Many arrived by crossing the porous northern border clandestinely, exacerbating voter fears about rising crime. Put together, those factors are hurting the standing of President Gabriel Boric and fueling support of the right-wing opposition.

Last weekend, opposition parties gained ground in Chile’s local elections, which are a test of coalition strength ahead of next year’s presidential vote. Right-wing politicians Evelyn Matthei and Jose Antonio Kast, both of whom are taking a tough stance on migration, have emerged as early frontrunners in the 2025 contest in which Boric cannot run.

Isolated by the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Andes Mountains in the east and the Atacama Desert in the north, Chile for years received relatively smaller waves of migration, such as an influx of Peruvians in the early 2000s.

But a crisis in Venezuela that has caused some 7.7 million people people to flee that nation has led to a rise in immigration to Chile. The country of roughly 19 million people is now home to more than 530,000 Venezuelans — roughly a third of its total foreign-born population.

The outrage over migration marks a dramatic shift from 2021, when Boric won the presidency on a progressive platform to bolster public services for the needy and make Chile more egalitarian. His election followed a period of massive protests over matters including health care, education and pensions.

But as his presidency has progressed, Boric’s government has increasingly focused on security. It has redoubled efforts to protect the northern border with Peru and Bolivia by investing in new drones, cameras, trucks and personnel for added patrols, while also deporting more migrants who have been found guilty of crimes.

AtlasIntel surveyed 1,877 people in Chile between Oct. 10-15. The poll has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.