Immigration policy and belonging in the Argentine ‘racial state’

Abstract

ABSTRACT From its very formation, the Argentine state sought to become a beacon of white, European civilization, understanding migration to be a central means toward achieving this aspirational racial project. This objective is etched into the country’s first constitution as well as institutional memories of the national immigration office, where state bureaucrats reaffirm their desire to welcome Europeans and reject ‘all human races that could introduce a different seed.’ While scholars have argued that twenty-first century discourses and immigration policies in Argentina signal important disruptions to the racial project of Argentine whiteness, this article explores the ‘stickiness’ of the aspirational racial project as it pertains to migration. It does so through in-depth analysis of a ‘moral panic’ that took place after a 2016 motorcycle theft in Buenos Aires. The incident became popularly known as ‘El Crimen de Brian,’ and culminated in immigration policy change. Through analysis of media narratives and state speech surrounding this crime, I argue that the consequences of ‘El Crimen de Brian’ dually expose the limits of human-rights based immigration policies when they are undergirded by exclusionary conceptions of citizenship and national belonging, as well as the fragile citizenship of those who are marked as external to dominant national projects. Through discussion of the Argentine case, this article bridges conversations regarding race, nationhood and migration and discussions about the securitization of migration.