Chile is assisting a prosecutor's investigation into Haitian minors who entered the country under family reunification permits, the foreign ministry said on Friday, after authorities discovered that some of those children later could not be located at the addresses listed for them.
The case has attracted attention because it coincides with a marked rise in arrivals from Haiti in early 2025. Local reporting highlighted that many of these arrivals came on charter flights, prompting questions about how migration checks were applied in a program intended to reunite families.
Prosecutor's inquiry
The prosecutor's office announced this week that it had opened an investigation into the mass entry of Haitian children and teenagers last year. In response, the foreign ministry said it was providing all requested documents and information to the probe.
Additionally, the ministry confirmed that Foreign Minister Francisco Perez dispatched a team to Haiti to examine procedures at Chile's consulate there. The stated aim of that trip is to review consular processes connected to the family reunification program.
Numbers cited by local media
Local media reported that about 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 who received temporary residence permits in the same period. The reports said roughly half of those who entered via family reunification did so on charter flights.
Those media accounts largely linked the charter movements to small Caribbean airlines, though the foreign ministry's public statements have focused on cooperation with the prosecutor and the consular review.
Context and policy environment
Haitian migrants have arrived in significant numbers in Chile over the past decade and now constitute one of the country's largest foreign communities. Entry rules have been tightened in recent years, and President Jose Antonio Kast, who took office in March, has publicly pledged to crack down on irregular migration.
Authorities have not disclosed the outcome of the prosecutor's inquiry, and the investigation remains ongoing. The ministry's cooperation and the consular review in Haiti form the current official response as the probe proceeds.