By Luciana Magalhaes
SAO PAULO (REUTERS) – Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to seek an explanation from the US government for the “humiliating treatment” of Brazilians on the deportation flight, the Ministry wrote on X on Saturday evening.
Last Friday, Brazilian deportees from the US arrived in Brazil in handcuffs. Upon arrival, some passengers also reported being harassed during the flight, according to local reports.
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents and eight crew members, was originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. However, it made an unscheduled stop in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, due to technical problems, according to Brazil’s Ministry of Justice.
There, Brazilian officials ordered the handcuffs removed, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ordered a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete its journey, according to a statement on Saturday.
The flight was the second this year from the U.S. with undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil, and the first since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Brazilian federal police.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reached for comment late Saturday did not immediately respond.
