Three pregnant Russian women were held in the Ezeiza International Airport after the Directorate of Migrations detect irregularities in your trip. The suspicions of Migrations lie in the fact that they arrived without escorts despite being in an advanced state of their pregnancy, that “they propose a return date but do not have a return ticket.” Also, they have no money. Senior police sources confirmed to NEWS that a possible criminal gang that would have managed their passports is being investigated.
He Federal Court No. 1by the judge Maria Romilda Servini de Cubría, is in full investigation of the facts. And three raids were carried out where phones and dollars from the alleged managers were kidnapped. The skills of cell phones and access to chats would be key to understanding the operation of the gang and proceeding with the arrests (so far no one has been arrested).
The case is highly complex as it falls within an international conflict. If they have their children in Argentina, the “false tourists” could stay in the country. the russian war against Ukraine, started in 2022, created a state of great uncertainty that pushed many Russian citizens to emigrate. Argentina is one of the busiest countries, since visas are not required for travelers and they can reside legally as long as they have a child born on Argentine soil. Even two years after giving birth to their children, women can apply for citizenship.
“In the Putin regime, not agreeing to the war is enough for you to go to jail or for your family to be sent to the front line,” he explained. Christian Rubilar. Defender of one of the Russian women who is 32 weeks pregnant, faced with the intention of Migration to deport the women, since they were “inadmitted for being false tourists” the lawyer explained that he filed a habeas corpus “which is in full process and Migration intends to deport them pending judicial appeals”.
“However, if they are deported they will be criminally prosecuted for the crime of illegitimate deprivation of liberty,” explained the lawyer, who affirms that in case of proceeding in this way, Migrations would be ignoring the Constitutional law that protects those who want to step on Argentine soil with the intention of establishing roots.”In this case, Migration intends to disregard this constitutional right by applying a de facto decree -which enables the deportation of those who are under the figure of “false tourists”-, when the Court declared that measure unconstitutional in 1945.” , he concluded.
According to Rubilar, there is a women’s trafficking network dedicated to deceiving people in conditions of absolute vulnerability: “They convince them that they have to have their children in Argentina to obtain citizenship and it is a deception, then they seek to capture them. In short, their lives and that of their babies are at risk.” If this is true, the detainees could have turned to the alleged criminal gang to manage their passports due to the extreme situation in Russia.
The case of these three Russian women is not an isolated event. Every day, almost 30 Russian pregnant women arrive in the national territory to have their babies.. This is the phenomenon known as “birth tourism” and it is not something new at all. In fact, three years ago Russian women traveled to Miami to give birth, trying to escape the climate that exists in the Eurasian country. However, the harsh restrictions that the United States implemented due to the coronavirus led to a change of plans. “Before the pandemic, Miami was the place to go. […] But now it’s Argentina”, Eva Pekurova, director of a travel agency specializing in this type of tourism, told The Guardian.
by RN
