Immigration Crackdown, This Time In Argentina
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina is so used to celebrating immigration as a cornerstone of society that a 19th- century saying — to govern is to populate — remains in use to this day.
But in an abrupt shift, President Mauricio Macri has issued a decree curbing immigration to Argentina, with his government declaring that newcomers from poorer countries in Latin America bring crime.
The measures announced by Mr. Macri in recent days made it much easier to deport immigrants and restrict their entry, prompting irate comparisons to President Donald J. Trump and igniting a fierce debate over immigration.
“A decree like this scares people,” said Arfang Diedhiou, 33, a Senegalese immigrant who runs his own clothing store here in the capital, Buenos Aires. “It came out just after what Trump did, a coincidence that seems very strange to me.”
Argentina’s president, the son of an immigrant, has echoed some of Mr. Trump’s “America First” theme, making it clear that his “first concern” should be “caring for Argentines, caring for ourselves.”
“We cannot continue to allow criminals to keep choosing Argentina as a place to commit offenses,” Mr. Macri said.
His decree has rekindled criticism of his ties to the American president, whom he calls a friend. In the 1980s, Mr. Macri worked with his father, an Italian immigrant and industrial magnate, on a real estate project in New York that the family ended up selling to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Macri’s immigration measures are raising diplomatic tensions in the region. Some South American leaders are attacking what they view as an attempt to mimic Mr. Trump’s immigration policies and nurture xenophobic sentiment.
“Brothers, Latin American presidents, we can’t follow the immigration policies of the North,” President Evo Morales of Bolivia said.
But opinion polls in Argentina showed support for limiting immigration. One right-wing congressman is even calling for a wall to be built on the border with Bolivia.
Claudio Suárez, 65, a worker at a bakery in Buenos Aires, said, “Nobody wants scum to come in from other countries.”
Argentina’s history has been written by waves of immigration over the decades. After 19th- century wars of conquest killed off many indigenous people, the authorities encouraged millions of immigrants to come, largely from Europe, to help populate and develop the country. More recently, governments welcomed newcomers from Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Officials in Mr. Macri’s government, which took over in 2015, contend that they are still upholding Argentina’s openness to immigrants.
The decree says it is focused on fighting crime, arguing that 22 percent of inmates in the federal prison system are foreigners. ( When all of the prisons are taken into account, the figure is closer to 6 percent.) It mentions “organized crime” as a reason for the crackdown, but expands the offenses that justify expulsion or blocked entry to include any crime that could lead to a prison sentence.
“Immigrants are hanging by a thread because anything could be cause for deportation,” said Gabriela Liguori, head of the Argentina Commission for Refugees and Migrants.
Critics say the new restrictions focus on poor immigrants to distract attention from the economy, which remains sluggish more than a year after Mr. Macri rose to power promising that market- friendly policies would usher in growth.
Some here contend that the shift is strategic, seeking short-term political points by blaming foreigners for ills in Argentine society ahead of legislative elections this year.
“Of course, we have our share of xenophobia, and now, in the glow of Donald Trump, they want to dilute the fact that a large share of us are children or grandchildren of immigrants,” said Raúl Kollman, 68, whose mother emigrated illegally to Argentina to flee the Nazis.