I'm the less nationalistic person you'll ever find. I couldn't care less about Malvinas (Falklands), and in fact I think they should leave the kelpers alone, and insisting that the Malvinas belong to Argentina (something that is questionable even from a juridical point of view) is an act of imposition from the Argentine government on the population of that island who hate us (with very good reasons). There are certain things, though, for which I am proud of my country. A female president (even if I don't like her) is one of them. Federal same-sex marriage law is another one. A very progressive Supreme Court is a third reason. The fact that Argentina (or certain organizations) is an example of a country that pursued justice for the crimes committed during the dictatorship, no matter the setbacks and obstacles, is an additional one. Yesterday, while chatting with my father, I realized of another reason why my country makes me proud: it is probably the country in the world with the most lax attitude towards immigration. That doesn't mean that immigrants (specially if their skin is darker than that of a middle class porteño) don't face racism and xenophobia in Argentina. They do, and I am certainly not proud of that. How prevalent or not it is is usually tied to the whole economic climate. But it can be nasty, there is no doubt in that.
Regardless (and this is not an attempt to dismiss the issue of racism and discrimination in Argentina), mostly anybody who decides to move to Argentina (legally or illegally) gets their legal residence after a few years. There is an amnesty law to regularize illegal immigrants once or twice every decade. Even when there are economic problems and xenophobia rises, nobody questions these amnesty laws. Compared to the United States and, above all, Europe, I find the country's attitude enlightened. And it makes me very proud to be a citizen of a country that still has an open door policy.
Wow, I had no idea that Argentina had laws like that. It would be interesting to see a study comparing the two policy "styles."
ReplyDeleteIMNSHO, the U.S. and Euro style is just an outlet for our ever-increasing authoritarianism.
Sometimes when I talk to people from the U.S. about immigration, I feel like I am talking to Inspector Javert. He could not tell the difference between morality and legality.
It's more like Argentina has no law at all, they just pass amnesties every so often to regularize the situation. To be clear, that doesn't mean that illegal immigrants don't face racism and discrimination on different levels pretty often. They do. But I do not recall a single time of law enforcement doing raids to get illegal immigrants and deport them.
ReplyDeleteYes, I should have said policy rather than "laws."
ReplyDelete"To be clear, that doesn't mean that illegal immigrants don't face racism and discrimination on different levels pretty often."
No, I get it, you were clear in your post.
What's more, I only remember one candidate in recent history (running for governor) that run on an openly xenophobic platform. He won, but because he was the candidate of the Peronist party (so he would have won if his platform had been to plant palm trees in every corner). The closest politicians come to openly xenophobic attitudes is, if there is a spike in violent crimes, to blame it on the "foreigners" (which statistically is BS).
ReplyDelete