Electoral chamber restores 1869 citizenship law, voids Milei executive decree

Court rules executive exceeded authority by changing citizenship law via decree

The National Electoral Chamber struck down Milei’s decree after finding that the executive branch had attempted to legislate on a matter Argentina’s Constitution explicitly reserves for Congress, according to the ruling. The court declared Emergency Decree 366/2025 “absolutely and irreparably null,” Herrera told UPI.

The decree, signed in October 2025 as part of a broader immigration reform package, had transferred the authority to grant citizenship by naturalization from federal judges to the National Directorate of Migration, a change that upended a system that had been in place for more than 150 years under Citizenship Law 346 of 1869.

“The National Directorate of Migration no longer has the authority to grant Argentine citizenship. That responsibility returns to the federal judges with electoral jurisdiction, as it has historically,” Herrera said.

The government had argued that granting citizenship was essentially an administrative procedure that unnecessarily consumed judicial resources and that the migration directorate was better equipped because it already maintained applicants’ records. Immigration attorney Javier Segura, founder of Cassiopeia Immigration Services, said the proposal “looked like a good idea on paper” but never functioned effectively.

“In practice it appeared that the Migration Directorate was never prepared to assume that responsibility. There was no coordination between agencies. It seemed many officials learned about the change only after the decree had already been published,” Segura said. He added that the directorate never created a dedicated office to process citizenship applications and continues to face staffing and resource constraints.

The court concluded that the issue extended beyond administrative efficiency. Herrera said the court emphasized that citizenship is the legal status that allows individuals to exercise fundamental political rights, including voting and participating in the country’s democratic process. Argentina’s Constitution expressly prohibits presidents from issuing emergency decrees on electoral matters and requires special congressional majorities to amend those laws.

“The government’s arguments, such as improving administrative efficiency or reducing judges’ workloads, are matters of political discretion that should be debated by Congress and do not constitute a constitutional emergency authorizing the executive branch to legislate by decree,” Herrera said.

The legal challenge was filed by a Chinese citizen living in Oro Verde, in Argentina’s Entre Ríos province, who has lived in Argentina since 2015, operates a supermarket, and has no criminal record. The National Directorate of Migration rejected his residency application and sought his deportation despite the court finding that he met the requirements under Argentina’s citizenship law.

Herrera said the court also distinguished between a person’s immigration status and the legal right to obtain citizenship by naturalization, concluding that the two are governed by different legal frameworks. Based on that reasoning, the court overturned the denial, granted citizenship to the applicant, and declared the decree unconstitutional.

Segura described the invalidation of a decree of this nature as unusual, noting that it is rare for a court to strike down such a measure so categorically.