Police and migration officers stopped 260 foreigners in Trujillo, Peru, on Friday, 9 October, and took them to a police unit to check their papers. Officials found 60 without legal migration status. They now face procedures that could lead to expulsion. No one had been expelled when officials announced the results.
A police operation in the name of “order”
The Interior Ministry said officers stopped people at key points around the city, then brought them to the base of the Escuadrón Verde police unit. It called this Trujillo’s first large-scale migration operation of its kind. For those stopped, the immediate reality was a document check by police and migration authorities, far from the streets where officers intercepted them.
Officials said the 60 people lacked valid migration status, such as a current visa or residence permit. The ministry said they “will be subjected to the corresponding procedures” to determine whether authorities will expel them. That finding isn't an expulsion order. The official statements offered no further information about the other 200 people checked.
Interior Minister César Astudillo and Luis Yunis Herrera, head of Migraciones, supervised the sweep in person. Migraciones is Peru’s national migration agency, responsible for border checks, Peruvian passports and residence permits for foreigners. In a Migraciones statement, Yunis Herrera said: “This operation seeks to restore order through migration control. We are acting firmly, but also respecting human rights; let there be no doubt about that.” The official account gave no further details about how officers treated people during the checks.
Security power moves into the city
The operation coincided with President Keiko Fujimori’s visit to Trujillo to present initial results of a new Comando Unificado. The command puts the National Police and armed forces under one operational plan against organised crime. Elite police officers, including some transferred from Lima to Trujillo, are reinforcing the effort. They include the special operations directorate Dinoes and the Grecco organised-crime squad.
Fujimori announced the command on Wednesday, 7 October. In a government statement, she said: “We are going to expel in record time the foreigners who came to break the law and attack Peruvians.” That promise sits alongside a more limited fact: authorities have identified 60 people for procedures that could lead to expulsion, but haven't said how long those procedures will take or whether anyone faces criminal charges.
The arms regulator Sucamec displayed 210 firearms during the security push. Officials said 120 came from seizures in the gold-mining area of Pataz, joint raids and voluntary hand-ins. The government described the migration checks as part of a wider security effort in La Libertad, the coastal region in northern Peru whose capital is Trujillo.
What officials haven’t disclosed
The government said the checks targeted people without legal status, not tourists who entered legally. But it hasn't disclosed the nationalities of the 260 people stopped, whether similar sweeps will happen in Lima, Cusco or other cities, or how long expulsion procedures may take. Migraciones said it would continue conducting checks with police.
The report says foreigners stopped in such sweeps may be taken to a police base while officers verify their documents. Visitors to Trujillo, nearby Huanchaco and the adobe ruins of Chan Chan should be ready to show a passport; residents should ensure their permits are current. Those instructions describe the practical burden on people navigating the state’s document checks. Meanwhile, authorities retain control over where checks happen and what procedures follow.
Fujimori plans to visit El Salvador from 28 to 31 October, including the CECOT mega-prison for gang members, according to El Comercio. The government hasn't said whether that planned visit changes its approach in Peru. For now, its stated policy is continued checks, with the possibility of expulsion hanging over the 60 people identified in Trujillo.