Migrants in Chile: Social crisis and the pandemic (or sailing over troubled water…)

Abstract

Chile has sailed in troubled waters in recent months. The effects of the social crisis at the end of 2019 were not yet fully evident, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the government to take drastic measures to try to slow down the advance of the virus. The restrictions imposed on displacement, dynamic quarantines and the suspension of non-essential activities had a strong impact on the employment and economic conditions of the inhabitants of Chile, and more dramatically on the migrant population. This article aims to make visible the vulnerability and precariousness of the migrant population in Chile in this context of a pandemic, as well as the need to generate situated and inclusive social policies.

Migrants as ‘vulnerable groups’ in the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis of a taken-for-granted label in academic literature

“…Across these publications, the term is applied as a descriptor with seemingly taken-for-granted applicability. Descriptions of migrants as vulnerable are often made in sentences which describe the difficult circumstances faced by migrants during and prior to the pandemic: “It is not a mystery that migrants often must face discrimination, poor living conditions, social exclusion, informal and precarious employment, among other issues that, in this current pandemic context, reinforces their condition of vulnerability” ( Jara-Labarthé & Cisneros Puebla, 2021 , p. 286, p. 286) “Migrant workers, with their marginal socio-legal status in host countries, are especially vulnerable during the pandemic […]” ( Wang et al, 2020 , p. 7, p. 7) …”

“…“It is not a mystery that migrants often must face discrimination, poor living conditions, social exclusion, informal and precarious employment, among other issues that, in this current pandemic context, reinforces their condition of vulnerability” ( Jara-Labarthé & Cisneros Puebla, 2021 , p. 286, p. 286)…”

“…Migrants are described as being “overrepresented in low skilled precarious jobs” which are often “so-called 3D jobs (dirty, difficult and dangerous)” ( Cramarenco, 2020 , p. 110). Migrant workers frequently face “temporary contracts and abusive practices” ( Maďarová et al, 2020 , p. 22), or informal working relations “without an employment contract or social benefits” ( Jara-Labarthé & Cisneros Puebla, 2021 , p. 287), resulting in “vulnerability to exploitation” ( Tagliacozzo et al, 2020 , p. 9). Precarity is also linked to some migrants’ precarious legal status, which for undocumented migrants in particular may create a “constant fear of being deported” ( Wang et al, 2020 , p. 17) and be an important element of “migration-related stress” ( Cross & Gonzalez Benson, 2021 , p. 115).…”

Closings, crossings, and complications: The fluidity of borders and boundaries in qualitative social work

“…For the authors whose essays appear in this section, the Covid-19 pandemic led them to confront new and shifting borders of many types. They range from the need to cross the digital divide by delivering mental healthcare via telehealth (Chan and Du, 2021) to grappling with national border shutdowns or lockdowns putting precariously employed migrants at further risk (Jara-Labarthé and Cisneros-Puebla, 2021). Covid-19 has challenged “business as usual” demanding new flexibility and fluidity in response.…”

“…But during the pandemic, these borders and boundaries have been both hardened and softened. They have hardened across nation-states with borders closing to control the spread of Covid-19 and impeding, for example, migrants and immigrants from returning to their families (Jara-Labarthé and Cisneros-Puebla, 2021; Saldanha, 2021). Borders have also softened as social workers and scholars have had to contend with the blurring of boundaries between home and work environments, teaching and learning, and in practice, where services and therapies were provided remotely.…”