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

[January 29, 2025]  By ELÉONORE HUGHES and DAVID BILLER

RIO DE JANEIRO (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 U.S. Embassy declined to comment and the U.S. 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 President Joe Biden.

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, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

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’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.

Authorities are looking into how many were handcuffed. There have been passenger reports that the plane’s 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 “ensure that these passengers have good conditions for water, food and even temperature, which I think was the most damaging aspect” in the first flight.

“We don’t want to provoke the American government, but it’s essential that deported Brazilians are treated with dignity,” Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski said on Monday.

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