Immigration controls at Argentine border crossings will no longer be in civilian hands. Javier Milei’s government announced on Tuesday the creation of a National Migration Agency which will depend on the Ministry of Security and not the Interior, as is the current management.
The new department will coordinate the work of all security forces, such as the Federal Police, Airport Police and Gendarmerie, in the fight against transnational crimes. The final objective will be the formation of an immigration police force inspired by the US Border Patrol, the US border patrol which today represents a fundamental piece in the control model promoted by President Donald Trump.
The official presentation of the new agency was the last protocol act of Patricia Bullrich, who will leave the position of Minister of Security to take up a position in the Senate. Bullrich, defender of tough crime, will be replaced by her deputy, Alejandra Monteoliva, who will guarantee the continuity of her policies.
Milei loves to talk about the “Bullrich doctrine”, to which he attributes the end of road and motorway blockades as a form of social protest. In a second phase, the Casa Rosada promoted the replication of the United States security agencies in Argentina, a country that became, through Trump, the economic support and ideological mirror of the libertarian government.
Milei’s fascination with Trump and everything with the acronym USA even led him to propose the creation of an Argentine FBI. In a speech last June, he promised a reform of the federal police that would allow it to carry out arrests or espionage tasks without judicial authorization. The reform announced on Tuesday is also inspired by the security models of the United States, albeit with economic resources light years away and very different realities.
The new agency, the government said in a statement, “will streamline border, police and immigration intelligence coordination to address transnational threats. As the region experiences critical violence and criminal displacement, border protection becomes a national security objective, not just an administrative one.”
For Minister Bullrich, Argentina “has managed to ensure that the large (transnational) gangs are very controlled here.” “Today we must convert this National Directorate (of Migration) into a National Agency, which deals with all the migratory problems we have in our country in a global way,” he said.
In any case, this is a paradigm shift, because Migrations historically depended on the Ministry of the Interior. Bullrich obtained the transfer to Security thanks to an agreement with Karina Milei, Milei’s sister and general secretary of the Presidency, today the most powerful person in the Government.
The Government applied the same paradigm shift by appointing a military officer to head the Ministry of Defense over the weekend, a portfolio that had been in civilian hands since the return to democracy in 1983. The Government made clear that its intention was to “put an end to the demonization of our officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers” who, according to the renewed reading of history promoted by the far right, are the heirs of those convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the last dictatorship.
