“The announcement ... represents a turning-point in Argentina’s immigration policy developed under Law No. 25.871, which is recognized worldwide for its approach to human rights and its promotion of regulating immigration control measures and restrictions on immigration,” the group said.
“Amnesty International warns of the negative impact on human rights of migration-related detention and opposes the use of detention as a form of punishment or deterrence, rather than addressing the causes which cause irregular immigration,” it added.
The National Immigration Directory posted details of an agreement signed between ministers from the federal and Buenos Aires City governments, including Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and National Immigration Director (DNM) Horacio García to use a building at Pasaje Alfredo Colmo 3860 on the southern sector of Buenos Aires City to hold detained “irregular immigrants.”
The City administration is also a part of the plans.
In the statement announcing the agreement, the government said that the new measures would apply “exclusively for the accommodation of those infringing Law 25.871 and its complementary regulations ... with the only and unique effect of fulfilling expulsion orders issued against foreigners within (the) necessary timeframe and (in order to) complete the purpose and scope set forth by the immigration authorities.”
According to the DNM website, the agreement will come into force from September 1 and last for an initial period of four years. It also assured that the building — which is believed to lie unused at present — would be subject to “renovation and a reconstruction of spaces, including (the addition of) environmental spaces, fire alarms, a hot water supply, electrical renovation and heating/cooling systems.”
It was not clear whether refurbishment of the designated building had already begun or would be completed ahead of the September 1 launch date.
‘Criminalization’
Despite the government’s assurances that the new proposals were in line with existing laws and the new facility would be ready for use before the deadline, NGOs denounced the move towards opening the detention centre in the first place and said that it could infringe the rights of migrants.
In a press release, CELS said that the government’s plan “implies the criminalization of migrants whose situation is irregular, associating them with a security problem,” rather than as a common circumstance covered under international law.
It added that the expulsion of immigrants from Argentina, a practice the previous government of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attempted to curtail, should only be used as a “last resort” and relied on judicial approval.
“Expulsion as a sanction against irregular immigration is a last resort that the State can use. In addition, the retention of a migrant person is only provided for a maximum period of 15 days and only in the context of expulsion. Expulsion ... can only be executed following reasoned decisions of the judiciary,” CELS said.
Other countries with stricter immigration laws than Argentina have come under fire from human rights groups in recent years for the use of detention facilities of undocumented immigrants, including Australia, whose government faced condemnation earlier this year after inhumane conditions and the abuse of refugee children were found to be commonplace at state detention facilities in Nauru.
Article 25 of Argentina’s national Constitution obliges the state to “encourage immigration, and (it) shall not restrict, limit or impose ... the entry into the Argentine territory of foreigners who arrive for the purpose of tilling the soil, improving industries, and introducing and teaching the sciences and the arts.”
Herald staff
http://buenosairesherald.com/article/220646/rights-groups-reject-migrant-detention
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