Police and migration officers checked 260 foreigners in Trujillo on Friday, 9 October, and identified 60 without legal migration status. Those 60 now face procedures that could lead to expulsion. No one had been expelled when officials announced the results. The operation put people’s migration status under state review as President Keiko Fujimori promoted a wider security push in the region.
Who Was Checked
Officers stopped the 260 people at key points around Trujillo and took them to the Escuadrón Verde police unit’s base, where they examined their papers. The Interior Ministry called it the city’s first large-scale migration operation of its kind. Officials said the 60 lacked valid status, such as a current visa or residence permit.
The ministry said those 60 “will be subjected to the corresponding procedures” to determine whether officials will expel them. That finding isn’t itself an expulsion order. Official statements gave no further information about the other 200 people checked, including their migration status.
The government hasn’t disclosed the nationalities of the 260 people, whether any of the 60 face criminal charges, or how long the procedures will take. The statements didn’t say whether similar checks are planned in Lima, Cusco or other cities. Migraciones said it would keep conducting checks with police.
Luis Yunis Herrera, head of Migraciones, said in a statement: “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.” Migraciones is the national agency responsible for border checks, Peruvian passports and residence permits for foreigners.
Police and Military Under One Plan
Interior Minister César Astudillo and Yunis Herrera supervised the checks in person. President Fujimori visited Trujillo to present initial results of a new Comando Unificado, which places the National Police and armed forces under one operational plan against organised crime.
Fujimori announced the command on Wednesday, 7 October. “We are going to expel in record time the foreigners who came to break the law and attack Peruvians,” she said in a government statement. The government hasn’t said whether any of the 60 people identified in the Trujillo operation face criminal charges.
Elite police officers, including some transferred from Lima, are reinforcing the effort. Officials named the special operations directorate Dinoes and the Grecco organised-crime squad among the units involved. The operation forms part of a wider security push in La Libertad, the coastal region in northern Peru whose capital is Trujillo.
The arms regulator Sucamec displayed 210 firearms. Officials said 120 came from seizures in the gold-mining area of Pataz, joint raids and voluntary hand-ins. The account didn’t connect those firearms to the 260 people checked or say any of them were involved in the seizures.
Limits and Missing Details
The government said the checks targeted people without legal status, not tourists who entered legally. During such sweeps, officers may take foreigners they stop to a police base while they verify their documents. Visitors to Trujillo, nearby Huanchaco and the adobe ruins of Chan Chan were advised to be ready to show a passport; residents were advised to ensure their permits are current.
The U.S. State Department rates Peru at Level 2, “exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping.” Its do-not-travel areas are the Colombian border area of Loreto and the VRAEM—the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys—not La Libertad.
According to El Comercio, Fujimori plans to visit El Salvador from 28 to 31 October, including the CECOT mega-prison for gang members. The report gives no figures for the operation’s cost, identifies no employers or labor organizations, and describes no organized response by the people checked. Its stated outcome remains limited to 60 people facing procedures that could result in expulsion.