EFE — Peruvian Interior Minister César Astudillo said Monday that President Keiko Fujimori’s government plans to sign agreements with Venezuela to deport Venezuelans with irregular immigration status by sea, after authorities have so far expelled 1,635 migrants in that situation.
During an appearance before the Peruvian Congress’ Defense Committee, Astudillo said authorities had managed, “with tremendous effort,” to expel 1,635 Venezuelans with irregular immigration status.
“This will increase significantly with the agreements we are going to reach with Venezuela to send them back by ship, and in large numbers. I hope things work out that way,” the interior minister said.
The minister noted that Peru has more Venezuelans than Aymara people, as the country hosts the second-largest Venezuelan community abroad, with 1.6 million migrants and refugees.
“Not all of them are criminals. Some people work, but we have a large number of criminals and vicious offenders, the kind who cut off heads and fingers, walking around our streets. Those are the people we are going after. We conduct operations on the streets every day,” he added.
The vast majority of the 1.6 million Venezuelans living in Peru have irregular immigration status because they struggle to secure formal employment that would allow them to obtain legal residency visas, as well as to renew special visas authorities issued during various regularization processes in previous years.
Venezuelan migration in Peru has primarily concentrated in the capital, Lima, making it the city with the largest Venezuelan population outside Venezuela, with a number that even exceeds the population of most cities in Venezuela.
