Arica, Chile – On November 28, with just weeks remaining until the run-off in Chile’s presidential election, far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast issued a warning.
“To the irregular immigrants in Chile,” he said, “I tell you that 103 days remain for you to leave our country voluntarily.”
Kast ultimately won the election and is expected to be sworn in on March 11.
But so far, in the highlands of Chile’s most northerly region, the immigrant exodus that some expected has not occurred.
If anything, some residents living in Arica y Parinacota have observed even more immigrants arriving ahead of Kast’s inauguration.
“We have a big crisis in the area. The immigration situation is now much worse,” said Andrea Chellew, a 62-year-old highland resident and former Senate candidate for the left-leaning Partido Humanista party.
Arica y Parinacota has long been a focal point for Chile’s immigration concerns.
A tip of land wedged between Peru, Bolivia and the Pacific Ocean, the region is often used as an entry point for migrants and asylum seekers crossing irregularly into Chile from the north.
The area has also seen an uptick in organised crime, a central issue in Kast’s election. He and other candidates visited the region multiple times to campaign.
As Kast prepares to take office, residents are divided on whether his iron-fisted approach to immigration will alleviate the pressures the region is facing — or further deepen divides.