SANTIAGO, June 19 (Reuters) – Chile’s foreign ministry said on Friday it was cooperating with a prosecutor’s investigation into the entry of Haitian minors under family reunification permits, after authorities found that some of the children later could not be located at the addresses provided for them.
• The case has drawn attention in Chile because it involves a sharp rise in arrivals from Haiti in early 2025, many of them on charter flights, and raises broader questions about how migration controls were applied in a sensitive program meant to reunite families.
• Chile’s prosecutor’s office said this week it had opened an investigation into the mass entry of Haitian children and teenagers last year.
• The ministry said it was handing over all requested information and that Foreign Minister Francisco Perez had sent a team to Haiti to review procedures at Chile’s consulate there.
• Local media reported that around 2,800 Haitians entered Chile under family reunification between January 1 and April 30 of last year, out of more than 3,200 Haitian arrivals with temporary residence permits in that period. Of those who entered under family reunification, around half of them did so on charter flights, the reports said.
• Media reports largely linked the flights to small, Caribbean airlines.
• Haitian migrants have flocked to Chile in the past decade, and make up one of the largest foreign communities in the South American country. Entry rules have been tightened in recent years, and President Jose Antonio Kast, who took office in March, has vowed to crack down on irregular migration.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Kylie Madry, Editing by Iñigo Alexander)
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