UN calls on Argentina's Macri to repeal 2017 immigration decree

[sandensea]

A UN rights watchdog has urged the Argentine government to repeal a 2017 decree that hardened immigration policy, saying it "contravenes the principles" of the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrants - ratified by Argentina in 2007.

The UN Committee on Migrant Workers, composed of 14 international specialists, called on Macri to "take immediate measures to repeal" the decree, which tightened immigration policy and expediting deportation proceedings.

The body said it had "raised concern about Decree No. 70/2017, which contravenes the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrants, and therefore requests its urgent derogation."

Macri's January 2017 decree superseded a 2004 law passed by Congress, and signed by the late former President Néstor Kirchner.

The 2004 law already allowed for the detention of immigrants for specific violations (mostly felonies) and for deportations - though only with a court order.

Macri's decree rescinded the right to due process for immigrants once felony charges were filed. A district court in March 2018 ruled the decree unconstitutional - though the Argentine Supreme Court has delayed issuing a ruling.

Xenophobic and discriminatory

The group also criticized the "xenophobic and discriminatory statements made by authorities, leaders and the media" in Argentina.

Macri's hard-line Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, justified the decree by claiming that "20% of the prison population are foreigners" - a claim she and others in the Macri administration repeated this year.

The actual figure is 6%.

Macri's running mate this year, Miguel Pichetto, has repeatedly called immigrants "criminals," "drug traffickers," "mafias," and "trash."

While Argentina was largely populated by European immigrants who arrived between 1870 and 1930, only 5% of its 45 million people today were born abroad (compared to 14% in the U.S.).

But since 1960, most immigrants in Argentina have come from neighboring countries and are largely indigenous or mestizo.

Many face discrimination and poor living conditions.

At: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/un-calls-on-argentina-to-repeal-2017-immigration-decree.phtml

Paraguayan immigrants - Argentina's largest foreign-born community - celebrate a recent Immigrants' Festival in Buenos Aires.

Anti-immigrant sentiment rose sharply in Argentina from the 1990s onwards - a trend President Mauricio Macri has been accused of exploiting for political gain as mayor of Buenos Aires and then president.

His choice of hard-line senator Miguel Pichetto - whose anti-immigrant rhetoric has led critics to brand him the "Argentine Bolsonaro" - appears to confirm this image.