President José Antonio Kast again pressed Congress on Tuesday over the rejected constitutional reform that sought to extend the detention period for irregular migrants before their administrative deportation. He spoke during the launch of SME Week 2026 at La Moneda.
According to Emol, the President argued that the current limit makes carrying out deportations almost impossible. Currently, an irregular migrant can be detained for only five days.
"In five days we cannot get all the work done, locate them, hold them there, have the plane ready, send the plane abroad," Kast explained. He then added: "We need to extend that period".
The President argued that the rejection does not harm the executive branch. "And who does that hurt if it is not approved? The government? No, all Chileans," he said. The sources do not specify how many days the reform proposed or the exact voting result.
Kast framed his appeal as part of a broader call for agreements to tackle organized crime. As an example, he cited the constitutional reform on security, which the government withdrew because of a lack of support. According to La Tercera, a cross-party group of senators replaced it with a bill of their own.
"We withdrew it, and look at the tremendous agreement we reached, a cross-party agreement," he recalled. He also mentioned the Rules on the Use of Force and said that applications to the police had only now increased.
The same speech included a challenge over the nursery care bill. "If we keep delaying this," Kast said, the country will lose "a real opportunity to make a historic change." He acknowledged that the delay "may hurt my standing in a poll".
Claudio Alvarado, who heads two ministries, took a tougher tone earlier on T13 Radio. "If common sense and logic prevail, rather than political opportunism, they should support reconsideration," he said of the senators.
Alvarado accused the opposition of contradicting itself. In his view, the previous government issued the deportation orders, and its supporters now refuse to help ensure they are carried out. "I do not think the senators want irregular migrants to stay," he concluded. The sources do not include responses from lawmakers.
The next step has already been decided. La Moneda decided to seek reconsideration in the Senate, and teams from the governing coalition are studying different legal avenues to revive the initiative, according to La Tercera.
