MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Itamaraty outraged by US' handcuffing of Brazilian deportees

Irregular Brazilian immigrants had been expelled from the US in handcuffs before but this was the first time after Trump's return to the White House

Brazil's Foreign Ministry expressed its outrage after the US Government placed handcuffs on every member of a batch of 88 irregular migrants who were to be flown back to their country last Friday. Given this “degrading treatment,” it was announced at the Itammaraty Palace, the headquarters of South America's largest country's diplomacy, that the Government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was to remain attentive to the issue.

“The indiscriminate use of handcuffs and chains violates the terms of the agreement with the US, which provides for dignified, respectful, and humane treatment of returnees,” Itamaratay said in a statement. “The Brazilian government considers it unacceptable that the conditions agreed with the US government are not respected. Brazil agreed to carry out repatriation flights, starting in 2018, to shorten the time these nationals spend in US detention centers, due to irregular immigration and with no possibility of appeal,” it went on.

A US Air Force transport aircraft carrying the deportees made an emergency landing at Manaus (Amazonas State) but it was banned from continuing to its final destination in the State of Belo Horizonte after it was learned that the irregular migrants were in handcuffs. Hence, citing sovereignty issues, a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft was dispatched to pick up the returning Brazilians as their restraining devices were removed upon boarding.

“The Brazilian authorities did not authorize the chartered flight to Belo Horizonte to continue on Friday night, due to the use of handcuffs and chains, the poor condition of the aircraft, with a broken air conditioning system, among other problems, and the revolt of the 88 nationals on board at the undignified treatment received,” Itamaraty's communiqué also explained. Although Foreign Ministry Mauro Vieira is on tour visiting Caricom countries, his office said that Brazil would demand some explanations from the US government about the degrading treatment of the passengers.

Meanwhile, Lower House Speaker Rodrigo Pacheco argued that a new procedure was called for to avoid an encore of these events. “Respect for human dignity is a concept enshrined in a civilized and democratic world,” he was quoted by Agencia Brasil as saying. The current agreement between the two countries dates back to 2017, but this weekend's flight was the first following Donald Trump's return to the White House.

According to other local media such as UOL, some 3,660 Brazilians were deported from the United States under former President Joseph Biden between Jan. 27, 2023, and Jan. 10, 2025. In all these cases, the deportees were restrained with handcuffs, Poder 360 noted citing Confins Airport sources, where all those flights landed and where last week's would have reached as well had it not declared an emergency.

Upon landing on Saturday Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski ordered the handcuffs removed from the Brazilians. Since he took office in February last year, 17 deportation flights were completed will all passengers restrained. On Saturday, he underlined that the use of handcuffs signaled a “disrespect for the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens”.

It is believed that the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration would seek these flights discontinued under those traveling conditions.