Three Cases of Lack of Judicial Protection before Orders to Leave the Country Taken Against Foreign Persons in Chile

Summary

The present article analyses three decisions of the Courts of Appeals of Santiago and Iquique, and of the Supreme Court, issued between 2019 and 2020, which rejected or declared inadmissible the habeas corpus filed on behalf of foreigner persons to whom the immigration authority denied the granting of a residence visa, forcing them to leave the country. What the commented rulings have in common is that they all hold that the habeas corpus submitted in each case would not be adjusted to the purposes of Article 21 of our Constitution, which, however, expressly guarantees judicial protection against any deprivation, disturbance, or threat towards the right to personal freedom. Based on the analysis of the elements that comprise the right to freedom of movement enshrined in Article 19 N° 7 (a) of the Chilean Constitution, as well as of how these elements may be affected by actions of the immigration authority, an opinion about the court decisions is given, concluding that they have left foreigner persons without judicial protection when they were entitled to it.