The government of Argentina created the National Migration Agency (ANM), a U.S.-inspired police force tasked with protecting the nation’s borders, local outlets reported this week.
According to the Argentine newspaper La Nación, the new police force, which will be formally presented on Tuesday, represents a “paradigm shift” that the government of President Javier Milei describes as the “Bullrich Doctrine” in the fight against narco-terrorism, criminal organizations, and the “maintenance of law and order” on the streets of Argentina.
Current Security Minister and Senator-elect Patricia Bullrich, whom the policy “doctrine” is named after, will step down from her position on December 10 when she is sworn-in as a senator. Secretary of Security Alejandra Monteoliva will succeed Bullrich as Minister and will give continuity to the government’s current security policies.
Bullrich and Monteoliva are slated to present the new National Migration Agency, which the Security Ministry has reportedly described as “a strategic body in the country’s border policy and migration control.”
Unnamed sources close to Bullrich’s office detailed to La Nación that ANM is largely inspired by the United States’ Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
“We are working on a civil police force that operates at all border crossings in Argentina, an agency that regulates all migration and keeps accurate records of people with criminal records,” the source told the newspaper.
La Nación, citing Security Ministry sources, reported that the ANM will be a “fusion model” of existing law enforcement officials and that Argentina’s migration control, which was historically under the responsibility of the Interior Ministry, was handed over to the Security Ministry, which has since then returned control of the nation’s Renaper National People Registry to the Interior Ministry.
Argentina has historically boasted one of the world’s most lax immigration systems. During the 19th century, the South American nation highly encouraged European migration to help develop the country.
In May, President Javier Milei signed a decree imposing restrictions on the otherwise lax laws, allowing for the swift deportation of individuals who commit crimes in the country and preventing foreigners from using Argentina’s healthcare system free of charge. Most notably, Milei’s policies halted the yearslong influx of pregnant Russian women traveling to the country to give birth in Argentina with the purpose of obtaining Argentine citizenship. The practice notably “boomed” in 2022 as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
In June, Milei and Bullrich announced the creation of a new Federal Department of Investigations (DFI), which the Argentine president explained at the time will be in line with FBI standards and those of similar agencies throughout the world. Bullrich said at the time that the DFI “will create conditions so that no drug trafficker or criminal can walk the streets or cross our borders as if nothing were happening.”
Infobae explained on Monday that, until now, Argentina’s Gendarmerie was the agency in charge of supervising the nation’s land border crossings, while Airport Security Police took care of airports — but as per the plans of the new migration police force, the new unit will cover both jurisdictions.
“Border control needs to be modernized. It is not the Gendarmerie’s specialty. We need to professionalize immigration,” an unnamed key source familiar with the matter told Infobae.
The outlet reported that the new migration police have President Milei’s approval and were developed as a response to his administration’s goal of strengthening Argentina’s border controls and regulating immigration. Officials of the new unit will reportedly receive border control-related training in the fields of terrorism and human and drug trafficking.
According to Infobae, everything but the new police’s budget has already moved forward, as it was not included in the nation’s 2026 budget forecast. If funding for the new agency is not included in the budget, the outlet explained, the government has “assured” that it can proceed with the budget already allocated for security.
“All that was missing was the political decision to create it, and we got it. The numbers are not high, we will find a way around it,” a government source told Infobae.
Infobae detailed that the government also plans to implement changes in Argentina’s Federal Police to ensure that it focuses on criminal investigations as Milei proposed when he presented the DFI.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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