The government of Argentina made changes to the country’s immigration laws on Monday that will make the deportation of alleged criminals easier and restrict entry for those with an outstanding criminal case in other countries, according to a post in its Official Bulletin [text, in Spanish]. In explaining the need for the changes, the posting cites a drastic increase in the number of foreign nationals that currently make up Argentina’s prison population, noting that the percentage reached 21.35 percent among all prisoners in 2016, and 33 percent among those imprisoned for narcotic-related offenses. These numbers are much higher than the international averages, according to the posting, which says that most country’s prison populations are comprised of less than 5 percent foreign nationals. In an interview with Radio Nacional [text, in Spanish], Migration Director Horacio Garcia said the objective of the change is to “expel the criminals,” and not to diminish Argentina’s “pro-immigration” policy. He went on to say:

We want a difference between those who come to the country to produce and work and those who are criminals. We do not discriminate against foreigners, it has to do with security. We need to gather more information to know who wants to come to Argentina.

Argentine Vice President Gabriela Machetti stated [Clarin report, in Spanish] that the changes are “the completely opposite idea of Donald Trump.”

Machetti’s statement made reference to the US President’s executive order [JURIST report] signed last week banning travelers from seven muslim-majority countries. Trump has addressed immigration before in his orders. On Wednesday he signed two orders [JURIST report] withholding federal funding to cities that provide safe haven to illegal immigrants, directing the construction of a wall along the US and Mexican border and an increase in the number of enforcement officials to remove undocumented immigrants.