Chile Starts Building a Wall on Peru Border to Stop Illegal Migrants

The recently inaugurated administration of Chilean conservative President José Antonio Kast this week began construction of a wall along Chile’s border with Peru to crack down on illegal migration.

Kast is a hardline conservative who obtained a sweeping nationwide victory in the December 2025 presidential runoff election, successfully running on a campaign mainly focused on stopping illegal migration, carrying out mass deportations, and cracking down on rampant crime in Chile. Kast took office on March 11, succeeding leftist former President Gabriel Boric, who defeated Kast in the 2021 runoff.

Kast has also expressed his intention to align Chile closer to the United States, joining President Donald Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” regional security initiative days before he took office and signing a joint statement with the U.S. towards a potential critical minerals and rare earth elements deal between both countries.

In the first hours of his administration, President Kast signed an executive decree establishing a “national policy of border closure” while granting additional facilities to the police and military in the fight against human and other types of trafficking.

On Monday, Kast visited the Chacalluta Border Complex in the northernmost region of Arica y Parinacota, which neighbors Peru, to conduct an on-site inspection of the construction works for a physical border barrier that will be built by the Chilean military as part of Kast’s “Border Shield” illegal migrant crackdown plan alongside the excavation of trenches along the border.

“We want to use these backhoes to build a sovereign Chile. That sovereign Chile has been undermined by illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and organized crime,” Kast said. “Today we are closing that window that for years allowed people to enter the country illegally.”

Infobae reported Tuesday that Kast’s visit officially marked the start of the border barrier construction, with heavy machinery excavation works beginning just a few meters from the border and a military deployment of 600 troops, more than double the usual amount deployed in the area. According to Infobae, initial construction efforts are focused on marking the trench’s boundaries with red flags.

Chilean outlets detailed that Kast’s “Border Shield” plan calls for the construction of 30 kilometers of trenches within 90 days in the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Antofagasta, and Tarapacá. The yet-to-be built border barriers will reportedly be five meters tall and will be equipped with sensors, electrified fences, and towers with thermal radar.

Interior Minister Claudio Alvarado reportedly explained that the Chilean government estimates that there are about 90 unauthorized border crossing spots, so the number of immigration checkpoints at the northern border will increase from 50 to 75 in the coming days.

“That increased oversight will help reduce the flow of people entering our country,” Alvarado explained, and added that the current goal is to “reach a significant length of trench excavation.”

The works, the Minister said, “will be supplemented by other physical infrastructure projects that will allow for the construction of barriers at various unregulated crossing points — based on geographical characteristics — to stem these irregular migration flows.”

“You can rest assured, and the Chilean people can be confident, that the government will handle this properly so that the outcome of these efforts will significantly reduce irregular migration,” the minister said.

As part of the Kast administration’s efforts to crackdown on illegal migration, Frank Sauerbaum, the new director of Chile’s National Migration Service, announced that the Chilean government will seek to investigate and penalize companies that hire illegal migrants in the country.

“Someone is about to start working at Company X. The labor inspector asks that person — who is an immigrant — for their contract, and everything is in order; they’re paying their contributions, but they’re working illegally in Chile because, these days, working illegally is allowed in Chile,” Sauerbaum said.

“When we don’t penalize employers who hire undocumented workers — simply because they’re paying the required contributions — there’s obviously a perverse incentive, because people know that they come to Chile and they’ll be given a job anyway,” he added.

The Minister also called on Chilean society to reach a consensus and put measures to ensure that there is no “perverse incentive” for illegal migrants to enter the country and obtain non-contributory social benefits “as is the case in the northern region, where the healthcare system has completely collapsed and, for example, childcare facilities are also overwhelmed.”

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.