Buenos Aires Herald 
A video showing United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem warning prospective immigrants not to enter her country illegally appeared on Argentine TV channels in the days around her visit to Argentina. It was still airing by Wednesday morning.
“Warning: do not enter our country illegally. The trip is dangerous, and in the end we will catch you and send you back,” Noem says in the Spanish-dubbed ad, which also appeared as an ad on YouTube for users in Argentina.
Noem goes on to say that over 100,000 “illegal immigrants” have been arrested under President Donald Trump, and that immigrants living in the country illegally can now “self-deport” to avoid fines and jail using a government-issued app called CBP Home.
Although the ad caused protests and scorn on social media, the vast majority of the opposition did not comment on it. The Coalición Cívica, which was formerly part of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition with PRO, wrote a statement rejecting President Donald Trump and Noem’s “xenophobe migratory policy,” describing it as an initiative based on the “immigrant persecutions, the criminalization of poverty, and the systematic dismissal of fundamental rights.”
The video is part of a campaign that has been going on for five months in several Latin American countries, including Chile and Mexico.
The campaign caused uproar in Mexico in April, when President Claudia Sheinbaum demanded private TV companies stop airing the ad, saying its contents were “highly discriminatory” and “harmed human dignity.” She also announced she would file a bill in Congress to reinstate a norm that until 2014, banned foreign governments from paying for such adverts on TV. This issue was included in a telecommunications bill approved by Congress on July 1, establishing that foreign governments cannot air political ads in Mexico.
The exact video shown on Argentine TV does not appear on the Homeland Security Department’s official YouTube channel. However, similar videos show Noem saying, in English: “If you are considering entering America illegally, don’t even think about it.”
“If you come to our country and you break our laws, we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome in the United States,” Noem added, saying she was sharing a message from President Trump.
As Homeland Security Secretary, Noem is in charge of controlling illegal immigration and deportation under Trump’s harsh border policies, and has earned the nickname of “immigrant hunter.”
During Noem’s visit to Argentina, she and local authorities signed a statement of intent for Argentina to re-enter the United States’ Visa Waiver Program. If this goes ahead, Argentines would be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa for 90 days for tourism or business visits. The country was previously in the program between 1996 and 2002, but was removed during the economic crisis.
In a press conference after the meeting, Noem said she expected the process of Argentina entering the program to take at least a year, and that it would be “very difficult” for it to happen sooner. “I don’t know if any country has done it in less than a year,” she said. Countries asking to join the program must comply with a series of requirements on passports, biometric systems, and border controls.
During her short stay in Argentina, Noem also spent a day in the countryside along with Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who took her to the Campo de Mayo military compound to eat asado and ride a horse.
