The arbitrariness of the summary expulsion process: Analysis of the Argentine immigration reform in the light of the Inter-American Human Rights System

Abstract

On January 30, 2017, the Argentine Executive Branch issued a Decree of Necessity and Urgency 70/PEN/17, modifying the Migration Law (Law 25,871), considered a model in terms of guarantee of human rights of migrants. In response, civil society organizations responded by submitting a collective amparo injunction, in whose appeal they resolved its constitutional disability. Today, migrants in Argentina await the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Beyond the material foundations for its promulgation (widely questioned), the rule introduces numerous modifications to the procedures established in the Migration Law, which imply a setback in the access to the rights of the migrants in Argentina. Of particular interest are the vicissitudes in the context of the expulsion proceedings, now of a very summary nature, and their impact on the respect and guarantees without discrimination of the rights established in the American Convention on Human Rights, right to due process (Article 8) and right of access to justice (Article 25) of the affected migrants.