Police and migration officers checked 260 foreigners in Trujillo on Friday, 9 October. They found 60 without legal migration status, and those people now face procedures that could lead to expulsion. The operation placed Peru’s migration rules at the center of a wider security push in La Libertad, whose capital is Trujillo. No one had been expelled following the checks, officials said.
Who Was Checked
The Interior Ministry said officers stopped the foreigners at key points around the city and brought them to the Escuadrón Verde police unit’s base to check their papers. The ministry called it the first large-scale migration operation of its kind in Trujillo.
The 60 people found to be in Peru irregularly 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 doesn’t mean anyone has already been expelled.
Officials didn’t provide further information about the other 200 people checked. They also didn’t disclose the nationalities of those stopped, whether any of the 60 face criminal charges, or how long the expulsion procedures will take. The government said officers targeted people without legal status, not tourists who entered legally.
Interior Minister César Astudillo and Luis Yunis Herrera, head of Migraciones, supervised the operation. Migraciones is Peru’s national migration agency, responsible for border checks, Peruvian passports and residence permits for foreigners.
Yunis Herrera said in a Migraciones 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 said it would continue conducting checks with police.
Migration Checks and Security
The operation coincided with President Keiko Fujimori’s visit to Trujillo, where she presented initial results from a new Comando Unificado. The command puts the National Police and armed forces under one operational plan against organised crime, connecting the migration operation to a broader security effort led by the government.
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.” The government hasn’t said whether the 60 people identified in Trujillo fall within the category described in that statement; its announcement of the checks cited irregular migration status, not criminal charges.
Elite police officers, including some transferred from Lima to Trujillo, are reinforcing the effort. The units named were the special operations directorate Dinoes and the Grecco organised-crime squad.
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 report gave no further details about the firearms and didn’t connect them to the 260 people checked.
What the Government Has Not Disclosed
The government hasn’t said whether similar migration sweeps will take place in Lima, Cusco or other cities. Nor has it provided details about the nationalities of those stopped or a timetable for possible expulsions.
The U.S. State Department rates Peru at Level 2, advising travelers to “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.
The report says officers may take foreigners stopped in such sweeps to a police base while they 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.
According to El Comercio, Fujimori plans to visit El Salvador from 28 to 31 October, including the CECOT mega-prison for gang members. The government hasn’t announced whether that visit will affect migration enforcement policy in Peru.