Argentina's Macri orders establishment of a detention center for undocumented immigrants.

[forest444]

The government of Argentine President Mauricio Macri signed an agreement with the City of Buenos Aires - whose mayor belongs to the same right-wing party - to create the first migrant detention center in the country.

The agreement, signed on August 19 by the National Migrations Director, Horacio García; the Minister of National Security, Patricia Bullrich; and her Buenos Aires counterpart, Martín Ocampo, envisaged the transfer of a municipal court archive building in Buenos Aires "for the housing of people infringing Law 25.871 and its complementary regulations." The four-year agreement will take effect on September 1.

The proposed detention center, to be used to "combat illegal immigration," was condemned by Amnesty International, Argentine human rights organizations, and foreign diplomatic delegations, all of whom expressed concern over the potential for abuses at such a facility.

Human rights lawyers believe the law being cited in the agreement - the National Immigration Law of 2004 - is being deliberately misinterpreted by the right-wing Macri administration. Diego Morales, director of legal defense services for Argentina's most prominent human rights organization - CELS - pointed out that Law 25.871 only enables the detention of migrants for very specific violations (mostly felonies) and allows deportations only with a court order. It also protects undocumented immigrants by mandating that authorities assist any law-abiding undocumented immigrant in applying for permanent resident status if so desired.

Signed by former President Néstor Kirchner, the 2004 law provided for the legalization of over 675,000 undocumented immigrants. "It abandoned the concept of combating immigration, and is considered a model internationally," Morales added.

While those who commit felonies are already subject to detention and deportation under the 2004 law, this would in effect be the first prison for migrants in the country. The 40,000 ft² facility, moreover, would be located in a largely residential neighborhood - raising the possibility that besides being a potential human rights and immigration law violation, its existence could also be contested as a gross zoning violation in what is already an economically-distressed working class neighborhood.

The National Migrations Directorate (DNM) conducted over 8,000 inspections from January through July and scrutinized 12,700 individuals - of which only 1,600 were undocumented immigrants.

Many of Argentina's undocumented are from neighboring Bolivia. The former Ambassador to Bolivia, Ariel Basteiro, denounced the proposal as an attempt "to break all ties with the neighboring countries of the region." The Macri administration, he added, "is having a servile attitude toward the United States in hopes that visa requirements (for Argentines visiting the U.S.) be lifted, while jailing fellow Latin Americans."

Over 500 academics, lawyers, and activists created a petition on change.org titled "No to the creation of detention centers for immigrants in Argentina." Argentina, they warned, had shifted "from a paradigm focused on the human rights of migrants to one based on expulsion by the state, which now sees migration as a problem of national security and public order."

Amnesty International also condemned the agreement for its "use of detention as a form of punishment or deterrence, rather than addressing the root causes of irregular immigration." If implemented it would, they said, be "a turning point in Argentina's immigration policy."

Macri was narrowly elected last November, and had made limiting immigration one of his central campaign themes. Critics charge that Macri, whose austerity policies are widely blamed for a doubling in inflation and a severe recession, is attempting to shore up support from his vocal right-wing base.

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-307814-2016-08-26.html&prev=search

[KamaAina]

1. ?'Macri' quiere decir 'Trump' en espanol?

[forest444]

2. Good call! I bet Macri wishes it did.

They actually go way back, in fact. There's our friend The Donald, endorsing Macri, at 0:08:

[Ilsa]

3. Ha! Well, no, but let's not

give trump any ideas on something else to build.

[Chimichurri]

4. ¡Que hijo de puta!

[forest444]

5. Encima, hipócrita.

This is the same guy whose wife's clothing boutique chain was busted numerous times for running sweatshops full of undocumented Bolivian immigrants; they even set one up inside a house located in a residential neighborhood to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid detection.

I might add that the judge who acquitted her despite the glaring evidence, Guillermo Montenegro, was made municipal Justice Minister and is now Ambassador to Uruguay (which many Argentines use to evade taxes, as you know); Montenegro's ex, María Labat, is now earning a 120,000-peso ($8,000) salary at the Workplace Risk Agency (while sacking 200 others).

Bolivians and ñoquis don't seem to bother them as much if it's to their benefit.

Getting back to the proposed detention camp, I'm also worried about the neighborhood residents. These are mostly working class people (google: Beazley 3860, Nueva Pompeya) whose home is typically their most valuable investment. Can you imagine suddenly having a detention camp next door!

That has 'zoning violation' - as well as 'human rights violation' - written all over it, and not just for the undocumented they plan to warehouse there.

Great seeing you again, Chimichurri. Matecitos!

P/S: Here's a video of the facility from 2015, when no one dreamed it would be used for anything other than its proper purpose:

[Chimichurri]

8. Stunning! I have no words.

I was just there in February and couldn't get over all the advances and new construction that was going on in Moreno. Cute little cafes and salons it was nice to see. My Aunt just told me yesterday all that construction just stopped. Half built apartment buildings and business storefronts sitting there unfinished including all the machines just left behind.

She also said 400 restaurants closed down, from one day to next, in Buenos Aires due to those outrageous austerity measures.

It's sad and scary. The only thing that gives me a little hope is that Argentinians get out and protest en masse. It won't be long before we hear they make their voices heard. That's the hope at least.

Nice to know you're here updating me and my fam to the madness. Thank you! And no hay nada mejor que un matecito con buena gente 👍🏼🇦🇷

[forest444]

9. And to think Macri has another 3½ years to go.

I myself had hoped that Macri would take a moderate course of prudent budget cuts and balanced, targeted tax cuts (those were his campaign promises, after all). Instead, he gave his backers massive tax cuts and much greater money laundering flexibility while walloping everyone else with much higher prices, fares, and rates - in effect, a huge tax increase.

Macri seems to forget that there's a huge country out there beyond Barrio Parque, the Sociedad Rural, and the financial district (as much as they like to whine). He chose to listen to the IMF and the Alsogaray/Martínez de Hoz types - and the consequences certainly didn't take long.

It hurts to hear about the good people of Moreno - who (correct me if I'm wrong) suffered a lot already during the neoliberal era between the late '70s and 2002. I wish them, and your loved ones in particular, all the best.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Doesn't seem to bother Macri that Argentina already established a monstrous history

of keeping innocent people in detention centers under the blood-thirsty rule of the military dictatorship for which he has publicly expressed support.

Human rights crimes which happened during those years have been regarded as unholy, barbaric all over the world, and they weren't all that long ago, considering there are still many survivors of torture, etc., and soldiers, and officers who have testified about their crimes, including the pilot who acknowledges he flew planes which dumped prisoners into the Atlantic Ocean.

Macri seems to believe he has enough support from powerful interests world-wide to move ahead in creating his new fascist presidency unimpeded.

[forest444]

7. Indeed. The potential for abuses at this detention site (in a residential street!) is far too high.

You'll notice as well that the building in question is being used by the judiciary for document storage (see video above); the City Council of Magistrates even spent good money refurbishing and modernizing it last year. They certainly never dreamt it would be turned into a concentration camp.

Even so, they seem to be sitting idly by as one of their key buildings is expropriated, banana republic-style, for sordid uses. So much for an independent judiciary.

[Judi Lynn]

10. If the City Council of Magistrates doesn't at least express reservations, they may regret it.

They would regret it if they aren't corrupted, themselves.

The place has a sterile, inhospitable look. It almost looks as if it had been built to be a detention site.

Apt description of the quick conversion to a detention center. One almost never would expect to see something like this pulled off inside a city in a residential district. Really creepy.

If only his plans can be thwarted, but it's doubtful. He's got the most aggressive power in the world on his side.