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Global Health Econ Sustain Latin American Liberal migration policies

da Silva vehemently criticized the restrictive immigration migration. He asserted that migrants were always welcome
policies in Europe and the USA (Fishel de Andrade, 2015). in Argentina, stating in a press conference: “I am the son of
“At the same time, he stressed Brazil’s comparatively liberal an immigrant, we all are and we need to continue welcoming
approach to immigration and the country’s respect for the people that want to come work here, but we are not going to
human rights of migrants. Da Silva also presented Brazil allow for crime to keep rising in Argentina because of a lack
as a country that was proud of its immigration history and of action.” However, the life of the DNU was short-lived.
emphasized the need to be “generous with human beings In 2018, it was declared unconstitutional by the judiciary,
from any part of the world who would like to live [in Brazil] and in 2021, the new left-oriented government of Alberto
and... build a future” (Freier De Ferrari, Luisa Feline, Fernandez finally abolished it. 26
2016). We will delve into this aspect more deeply when we In contrast to the Argentinian case, the far-right
explore the Latin American position as both a receiving president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, did not alter the
and sending region in the global landscape. migratory law, which had been approved during the
Starting in the 2010s, economic crises emerged, often tenure of the right-wing Temer government. His elections
accompanied by corruption scandals, particularly notable raised many fears in humanitarian organizations because
in countries like Brazil. These circumstances paved the of Bolsonaro’s promises to adopt a “tough on crime”
way for the rise of conservative leaders and governments: approach, his ties to the Brazilian military, and his racist
In 2015, Mauricio Macri assumed power in Argentina; remarks about migrants, including Haitian refugees,
following the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, Michel even if he had not specifically mentioned migration in
Temer became Brazil’s president in 2016; and later, the his program. Moreover, Bolsonaro could be considered
2018 elections ushered in the far-right congressman Jair ideologically hostile to migration in the framework of his
Bolsonaro; also in 2018, Chile saw a transition from the anti-globalist stance. In fact, because of his strong rejection
social-democrat Michelle Bachelet to the conservative of liberal multilateral institutions and international treaties,
Sebastián Piñera. The right-wing governments reversed the he left the UN Global Compact for Migration, accused of
economic and social policies that had been implemented by threatening national sovereignty, as each state should be
leftist administrations, pursuing privatizations, reducing freed to deliberate internally regarding migration issues.
social spending, and removing barriers to international Despite this negative approach to global migration,
trade. Did the shift toward right-wing governance signify Bolsonaro did not touch the existing migratory laws:
the end of the “liberal tide” in migration policies? Despite he showed himself empathic towards the Venezuelans
some exceptions, such as the attempt by Argentinian Prime when, in opposition to the Roraima’s government who
Minister Mauricio Macri to introduce restrictive policies, spoke of the “return” of the refugees, he declared that they
it can be asserted that the Latin American right did not would not have been sent back and that they deserved
possess the force to reverse the trend. protection because they were fleeing a dictatorship. All
In Argentina, a country known for having the along his mandate, he was quite pragmatic in front of the
most progressive migration laws on the continent, Venezuelan refugee crisis, which will be analyzed in the
the conservative government under Mauricio Macri next paragraph.
underwent a change in approach on the basis of an alleged 3.1. The Venezuelan refugee crisis
increase in crimes at the hands of foreigners. This shift was
reflected in the issuance of Decree of Need and Urgency Since 2015, the Venezuelan exodus has evolved into
No. 70/2017 (DNU), which brought about modifications the biggest refugee crisis in the world. Venezuela faces a
to several aspects of Law No. 25.871. The DNU highlighted deep economic, social, and political crisis that has caused
that “the population of individuals of foreign nationality extreme situations, such as hyperinflation, food shortages,
in the custody of the Penitentiary Service has increased in and a substantial surge in crime. It is estimated that
recent years, reaching 21.35% of the total prison population between 2015 and 2022, a staggering 7 million people left
in 2016.” The DNU provided for the express detention Venezuela, with around six million (about 80%) settling
27
and deportation of migrants involved in any form of in other Latin American countries. According to official
criminal legal proceedings, regardless of whether they had 26 https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/03/08/after-years-
been convicted or not. The scope even applied to foreign of-organizing-macris-anti-migrant-decree-finally-
individuals with permanent residence status in Argentina, repealed-in-argentina/
irrespective of the length of their residence, roots, or social 27 https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/12/06/
ties. While explaining the DNU, Macri insisted that its cf-venezuelas-migrants-bring-economic-opportunity-
objective was solely to combat criminal actions, not to target to-latin-america

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2023) 10 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.0861