Brazil strongly condemned the US on Saturday after dozens of deportees arrived to the country in handcuffs.
A plane carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents, and eight crew members, was originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the state of Minas Gerais, but had to make an emergency landing in the city of Manaus due to a technical error, said a statement by the Brazilian government.
Brazilian federal police received the plane at the instructions of Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski and intervened, asking US agents to remove handcuffs from the deportees.
Lewandowski told left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva it was a “blatant disrespect” of their fundamental rights, as per a statement by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
“Upon learning of the situation, President Lula ordered that a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) aircraft be mobilized to transport the Brazilians to their final destination, in order to ensure that they could complete their journey with dignity and safety,” the justice ministry said.
Anti-immigration sentiment in the US
US President Donald Trump has taken a harsh anti-immigration stance since coming into office this week, and has vowed to remove undocumented migrants.
However, the deportation flight was a result of a 2017 bilateral agreement and did not stem from any of Trump’s orders on immigration since taking office, a government source told AFP news agency.
It was the second such flight carrying undocumented migrants from the US back to Brazil this year.
Several deportation flights have taken off since Monday when Trump took office, though they have been common under previous presidents too.
The use of handcuffs on migrants is considered controversial in Brazil. Even former conservative Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump supporter, has called for an end to the practice.
