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Brazil to set up deportee reception center after contentious flight from US

publish time

29/01/2025

publish time

29/01/2025

Brazil to set up deportee reception center after contentious flight from US
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva poses for a photo after his first cabinet meeting of 2025, at the Granja do Torto country residence, in Brasilia, Brazil on Jan 20. (AP)

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 29, (AP): The Brazilian government Tuesday said it will create a reception center for deported migrants from the United States following controversy over conditions on a recent deportation flight. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave the green light to establish a humanitarian reception post at Confins, a municipality in Minas Gerais state, Brazil’s Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship Macaé Evaristo told journalists in the capital Brasilia.

That decision was made because of the possibility that more flights will follow the arrival of an initial flight to Brazil under the new Trump administration with 88 deportees on board this weekend. That followed dozens of flights during the Biden administration. Local media reported that government officials were disturbed by the fact that Brazilians were kept handcuffed after an unscheduled stop in the Amazon’s biggest city, Manaus, prompted by technical problems with the plane.

A Brazilian military plane brought them to their destination, the city of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, on Saturday afternoon. The next day, Brazil’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was seeking answers from Washington regarding the "degrading treatment” of nationals during the recent flight. It cited "the use of handcuffs and chains, the poor condition of the aircraft, with a broken air conditioning system, among other problems.”

The US Embassy declined to comment and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency didn’t respond to an email request for comment. It was unclear whether the 88 Brazilian deportees were taken into custody during the tenure of President Donald Trump, who took office Jan 20, or former US president Joe Biden.

There have been almost four dozen deportation flights from the US to Brazil over the past three years. Brazil has no desire to interrupt them and held talks with the American charge d’affaires on Monday, according to a government source with knowledge of the matter. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Brazil has permitted the use of handcuffs in exceptional circumstances, but not indiscriminately and there must be an evaluation of risk, the person said.