Milei empowers Argentina to bar or deport foreigners over hateful remarks about the country

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It’s a shift for a country that has long prided itself on welcoming immigrants. Argentina’s Constitution explicitly encourages immigration, and for decades the country has offered foreigners broad civil rights and relatively easy access to legal residency, public education and health care.

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Milei, however, has introduced tougher immigration measures that have raised the bar for permanent residency and expanded government powers to deport foreigners accused of crimes, often publicizing the moves with rhetoric similar to that of the Trump administration.

The widespread scorn for Argentina has played on long-standing stereotypes, particularly in Latin America, that Argentines view themselves as culturally and economically superior to their neighbors, in part due to the large share of the population descended from European immigrants. The backlash intensified when Argentina players and staff attacked their Spanish opponents in a post-match brawl after the World Cup final. Online petitions to expel Argentina from the World Cup drew hundreds of thousands of signatures.

FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, on Wednesday opened disciplinary proceedings against the Argentine Football Association over the scuffle, as well as over alleged racist abuse and fan misconduct. Players also faced a FIFA investigation into their parading of a banner that asserted Argentina’s claim to the British-controlled Falkland Islands after the team’s semifinal victory over England.

Milei, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has described the torrent of criticism as a coordinated “anti-Argentina campaign.” He alleged without evidence last week that the left-wing governments of Brazil and Mexico and the U.S. Democratic Party had financed the campaign to undermine his right-wing libertarian administration. That helped trigger a diplomatic crisis with neighboring Brazil, which recalled its ambassador to Argentina over the accusations and Milei’s insults against Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Thursday’s decree says the punishments don’t apply to ideological disagreement or political, academic or civic criticism protected under Argentina’s Constitution.

But it leaves unanswered how officials will distinguish protected speech from prohibited hate speech, whether immigration authorities will review foreigners’ social media activity and how aggressively the new powers will be enforced against tourists and longtime residents.

“Who and how will apply those grounds? How will it be determined that a person has engaged in such ambiguous assumptions as a ‘hate message’ toward the country or our population?” asked Maximiliano Ferraro, an opposition lawmaker, criticizing the decree as an unnecessary political gimmick.

“While the government wraps itself in Argentina’s sky-blue-and-white national colors for publicity, many of the policies it promotes are little more than exclusionary nationalist theater.”

Isabel Debre, The Associated Press