Brazilian officials demanded that US agents remove handcuffs from a group of deportees who were flown to the South American country on Friday, with a prominent minister in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government calling the practice “blatant disrespect” for the rights of his fellow citizens.
Federal police, acting under the directives of Brazilian Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, greeted the flight after it made an unplanned arrival in the Amazonian city of Manaus owing to mechanical problems, the Brazilian government said in a statement on Saturday.
The plane, carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, was originally scheduled to land in Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais state, according to an official statement.
The Brazilian government revealed that the passengers were handcuffed but later freed after intervention by Brazilian police.
Upon learning of the incident, President Lula directed that the deportees be transported to their final destination aboard a Brazilian Air Force plane, ensuring they could complete their journey with “dignity and safety,” the Justice Ministry stated.
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According to Brazil’s Justice Ministry and federal police, the flight was the first since U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday and the second from the U.S. this year carrying undocumented migrants who had been deported back to Brazil.
The Trump administration has launched a massive immigration crackdown, with the Republican president promising to use mass deportations to remove undocumented migrants from the U.S.
In the South American country, there has been criticism around the use of handcuffs and other forms of restriction on migrants being deported on flights from the United States to Brazil.
Trump ally and conservative former president Jair Bolsonaro also demanded that the practice end.
Requests for comment from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not immediately answered.
Source: Reuters
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