RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) 鈥 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 gave the green light to establish a humanitarian reception post at Confins, a municipality in Minas Gerais state, Brazil鈥檚 Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship Maca茅 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 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was seeking answers from Washington regarding the 鈥渄egrading treatment鈥 of nationals during the recent flight. It cited 鈥渢he use of handcuffs and chains, the poor condition of the aircraft, with a broken air conditioning system, among other problems.鈥
The U.S. Embassy declined to comment and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency didn鈥檛 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 President Joe Biden.
There have been almost four dozen deportation flights from the U.S. to Brazil over the past three years. Brazil has no desire to interrupt them and held talks with the American charge d鈥檃ffaires on Monday, according to a government source with knowledge of the matter. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren鈥檛 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.
Authorities are looking into how many were handcuffed. There have been passenger reports that the plane鈥檚 air conditioning suffered problems, causing intense heat in the cabin, and they exited through the emergency door upon landing in Manaus.
Commenting on the humanitarian center, Evaristo said the objective was to 鈥渆nsure that these passengers have good conditions for water, food and even temperature, which I think was the most damaging aspect鈥 in the first flight.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to provoke the American government, but it鈥檚 essential that deported Brazilians are treated with dignity,鈥 Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said on Monday.
