Lula da Silva filed a complaint with the Trump government about the conditions of the flight of Brazilian migrants expelled from the United States
(From San Pablo) The president Lula da Silva has called a meeting for today to decide whether to attend the emergency call made for Wednesday by the Community of Latin American States to treat the expulsion of migrants from the United States. After Colombia and Mexico, Brazil also experienced its first crisis with the government of trump.
The confrontation has been unleashed by the reaction of Lula’s government to the deportation of 88 illegal Brazilian migrants expelled from the United States and handcuffed during the flight that landed Friday night in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas. “A request for explanations will be presented to the United States government regarding the degrading treatment of flight passengers”said Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Itamaraty, in X.
The plane was headed to Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais, but after landing in Manaus to refuel, it had problems with the air conditioning, which caused a mutiny among passengers. Some of them even activated the emergency door, got out and staged a protest walking along one wing of the plane.
The Brazilian Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowskicriticized the use of handcuffs, which he described as “lack of respect for the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens”decreeing that a plane from the National Air Force transport the deportees to Belo Horizonte, where, once they arrived, some complained of having been treated with violence by US agents.
“Not even a dog deserved to be treated like that,” said one of them once he landed, after spending two months in prison in the United States, where he had arrived from Mexico. “I spent almost 50 hours handcuffedwithout eating well. “I haven’t showered for five days,” he said. To receive the group in Belo Horizonte, Lula sent the Minister of Human Rights, Macaé Evaristo. In a video published on her social networks, the minister stated that “countries can have immigration policies, but without violating anyone’s rights”.
The vice president Geraldo Alckmin He also participated in the debate. In his X, he praised Lewandowski’s decision. “I congratulate the minister who, on instructions from President Lula, commendably ordered the US government to remove the handcuffs from the Brazilian citizens deported to Brazil, activating the sending of planes from our brave Air Force to carry out the operation,” said Alckmin.
He added that “our Constitution establishes the dignity of the human person as a fundamental republican principle and the prevalence of human rights as one of the axes of its international relations.”
In a statement issued yesterday, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that The indiscriminate use of handcuffs and shackles violates the terms of the agreement with the US“which provides for the dignified, respectful and humane treatment of repatriates.”
“The Brazilian government considers unacceptable that the conditions agreed with the US government are not respected. Brazil has agreed to implement repatriation flights, starting in 2018, to reduce the time these citizens spend in North American detention centers, due to the irregular immigration and without the possibility of appeal“, reads the statement.
Itamaraty also announced that he will send a request for clarification to the US government and said that he will remain alert to “changes in that country’s immigration policies, in order to guarantee the protection, security and dignity of Brazilians residing there”.
However, if Friday is the first deportation flight of Brazilians from the United States under the Trump administration, it is also the number 33 since Lula became president of Brazil in his third term. In the 32 previous flights, which took place during the Biden administration, 3,660 Brazilians were deportedall of them also handcuffed during the flight. Furthermore, in those 32 flights, Lula’s government never made a criticism like the one these days.
According to US authorities, handcuffs are necessary to prevent an ejected passenger from attacking the crew or other members of the flightputting them in danger. Among the Brazilians who arrived on Friday, some have committed crimes in the United States. One of them, interviewed by Brazilian television, had been convicted of money laundering.
According to data from US Department of Homeland Securitythe Biden government is the one that has expelled the most Brazilians since 2013. Compared to Trump’s first term (2017-2021) and Barack Obama’s second (2013-2017), Brazilians represented 1.3% of the expelled in the Biden Government, 0.7% in Trump’s and 0.4% in Obama’s.
During the presidency of Jair BolsonaroBrazilian diplomacy complained to the American diplomacy about the issue of handcuffs. In a phone call between the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França, and his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, he had responded that the security protocols on flights they depended on the State Department, but he promised that it would be activated so that handcuffs would no longer be used on flights made up of families with children.
Already before, during the presidency of Michel Temer, the two countries signed an agreement in 2017 by which Brazilians accused by the US authorities can only be deported after exhaust all possible resources to remain in the United States.
The debate opened in these hours has had the immediate consequence of greater polarization of Brazilian politics. Federal deputy José Guimarães, from Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) and leader of the Government in the Chamber, took advantage of the occasion to attack the opposition.
“While 88 Brazilians were expelled from the US, pro-Bolsonaro politicians celebrated Trump’s inauguration. Lula banned handcuffs and guaranteed a Brazilian Air Force plane to recover those expelled. And the Brazilian extreme right? He preferred to celebrate those who want to humiliate our people“, he said, referring to the presence of Bolsonaro’s wife, Michele, and his son Eduardo at Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
Eduardo Bolsonaroa federal deputy for the Liberal Party (PL), took advantage of the news to compare the deported migrants and the Government’s treatment with the Bolsonaro supporters detained for the January 8, 2023 invasions of the presidential palaces. “The same ones that They celebrate sentences of up to 17 years in prison for mothers and women like Iraci Nagashi, 71, They now say they feel compassion for deported migrants. But again this is a selection of convenient facts, because Nobody talks about these 3,660 deported by Biden”, he stated.
In recent months, in general, the life of Brazilian migrants around the world has become more difficult. According to the British newspaper Guardian, More than 600 Brazilians, including a hundred children, would have been “secretly” expelled from the United Kingdom between August and September of this year. The Brazilian Foreign Ministry, Itamaraty, confirmed the figure, but claims that their return was voluntary, at the suggestion of the British government, which supposedly offered them a round trip.
Also in Argentinahundreds of Brazilian students are leaving their faculties to return to their country. The blame lies not only on the increase in the cost of living in the neighboring country, but also on the university fees for foreigners. According to a report from the Argentine Ministry of Human Capital, based on the most updated data available as of 2022, there are 20,255 Brazilian medical students in Argentinaof which 12,131 are enrolled in the public education system. Of the remaining 8,124, around 6,000 attend the private Barceló university, where Brazilians occupy 75% of the places.
For Brazilian emigrants, The situation has also worsened in Portugalto the point that at the next summit between the two countries, which will be held in Brasilia starting on February 19, the problems of Brazilians in Portugal will also be discussed, where they represent the largest foreign community. In particular, the Brazilian consul in Lisbon will put on the table the issues of violencethe xenophobia and the racism.
Already at the 2023 meeting, Brazilian emigrants denounced “different types of discrimination and attacks on their rights” in an open letter to Lula. According to the Portuguese Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), of a total of more than one million foreigners living in Portugal, Brazilians with a regular work visa in 2023 were 368,449, that is, 35.3% of the total. In 2024, according to AIMA estimates, they will reach 600,000.
Many of them suffer from high rents and are forced to live in tents on the streets. That is why many, disillusioned by the European dream, are asking Itamaraty for help to return permanently to Brazil. In 2023, the UN Migration Agency supported the repatriation of 1,661 Brazilians from 34 countries. This figure is more than triple the total number of Brazilians assisted by the program in 2016.
