Argentine immigration policy in the age of mass migrations(1876-1932)

Abstract

Argentina is often presented as an example of a country open to mass immigration between 1876 and the Great Depression. This paper tries to answer two questions: (1) if there were economic reasons for restricting immigration, why did Argentina not follow the example of the United States, especially in the 1920s? and (2) if Argentina was a classic case of a political system dominated by large landowners and industrialists, why were some restrictive measures introduced over time? The article explains the contradictions of Argentina’s migration policy by focusing on the peculiarities of its system of political participation and the conflicting interests of political groups. The peculiarities of Argentina’s political system made it very difficult for workers’ interests to be transferred to parliament. Workers would have improved their situation with fewer immigrants, but most of them were unnaturalized foreigners and therefore did not participate in elections and could not elect their representatives. Their discontent materialized through social and labor conflicts that alarmed those groups most benefited from immigration and controlled political representation. And, paradoxically, it was the fear of social conflict that generated from the political power the restrictions on immigration trying to make them compatible with the persistence of an open policy.