Brazil Accuses US Of ‘Blatant Disrespect’ For Deporting 88 Migrants In Handcuffs
Brazilian officials demanded that U.S. agents remove handcuffs from a group of deportees flown to Brazil on Friday.
A prominent minister in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration condemned the practice as a “blatant disrespect” for the rights of Brazilian citizens, Reuters reports.
Acting on orders from Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, federal police met the flight, which had made an unscheduled landing in Manaus, an Amazonian city, due to technical issues, according to a government statement released on Saturday.
The plane, carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, was initially scheduled to land in Belo Horizonte, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, according to the statement.
The handcuffs were removed from the passengers following the intervention of Brazilian police, the government reported.
After being briefed on the incident, President Lula directed that the passengers be transported to their final destination aboard a Brazilian Air Force plane, ensuring they could complete their journey with “dignity and safety,” according to a statement from the Brazilian Justice Ministry.
This flight marked the second deportation this year of undocumented migrants from the U.S. to Brazil and the first since U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, according to Brazil’s Justice Ministry and federal police.
The Trump administration has initiated a broad immigration crackdown, with the Republican President pledging to implement mass deportations to remove undocumented migrants from the U.S.
The use of handcuffs and other restraints on migrants deported on flights from the U.S. to Brazil has sparked controversy in the South American nation.
