President Javier Milei is tightening up Argentina’s immigration laws as part of his effort to further pare back public spending, making another nod to close ally Donald Trump in the process.
Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni unveiled an executive order Wednesday that mandates citizenship be made available only to immigrants who spend two uninterrupted years in Argentina – or those who make a “relevant investment.” Permanent residency, meanwhile, will be awarded only to those with “sufficient means” and no criminal record.
Argentina has long welcomed immigrants with relatively open arms, even offering free healthcare and education to foreign residents. But Milei’s government started to reverse that last year, allowing public universities to charge tuition to non-residents.
“Today we have a migration policy that invites chaos and abuse by a lot of rascals, who are far from coming to live in the country in an honourable way to build a prosperous future,” Adorni told reporters in Buenos Aires. “It’s time to honor our history and make Argentina great again.”
In the last 20 years, 1.7 million foreigners immigrated informally, Adorni said. Immigrant use of public hospitals has cost the state 114 billion pesos (US$100 million), he added. From now on, foreigners will need health insurance to access services.
Milei’s government also announced that any convict who enters Argentina will be rejected by migratory authorities and those who enter illegally will be deported. While those who committed minor crimes were allowed to stay before, they will now be expelled – and court times to deal with such cases will be expedited.
The deportation language also mimics Trump’s. Milei has cultivated a strong ideological bond with the US president, highlighting it in an anti-woke tirade at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and making multiple pilgrimages to conservative events worldwide. Argentina announced its intention to quit the World Health Organization on the heels of the US and is considering withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, like Trump.
In the wake of all those efforts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made a rare trip to Argentina days after it signed a new US$20-billion financing agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
by Manuela Tobias, Bloomberg
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