Brazil tightens entry rules to combat illegal immigration to the United States

Brazil has decided to tighten entry requirements for nationals of certain countries starting Monday in order to limit the influx of migrants arriving at Sao Paulo International Airport before attempting to reach the United States by land.

Latin America's largest country is an integral part of the preferred route of “criminal organizations that smuggle migrants and traffic people,” the Brazilian Justice Ministry denounced in a statement sent to AFP.

Arrivals are concentrated in the country's largest airport, in Guarulhos, near Sao Paulo, Latin America's largest megalopolis.

The Federal Police reports an “exponential” increase in the arrivals of travelers who were supposed to make a simple stopover in Guarulhos, but who remain there to try to enter Brazil instead of reaching the final destination indicated on their plane tickets.

In the meantime, they sometimes remain for weeks in a transit zone at the airport, in precarious conditions.

Most of the migrants come from Asian countries and have tickets with final destinations in other South American countries.

“Criminal organizations are directing them to seek asylum to enter Brazilian territory,” explains the Federal Police.

Staff at Guarulhos International Airport gather passports of Vietnamese and Indian travelers stranded in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 23, 2024 © AFP – Juan Pablo FLORES

If they make it, they then continue their journey by land, to reach Colombia, then Panama, through the dangerous Darien jungle, in the hope of eventually arriving in the United States or Canada.

That is why the government of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided that starting Monday, travelers from countries for which Brazil requires a visa will have to obtain one even if they are just stopping over in the country, which was not previously necessary.

The new rules also now require asylum seekers to prove that they are suffering political persecution or violence in their home countries.

– Growing influx –

Guarulhos airport is one of the busiest in Latin America, handling some 35 million passengers a year.

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According to official data, the number of asylum applications at this airport has increased 60-fold in ten years, from 69 in 2013 to 4,239 in 2023.

Travelers from India and Vietnam wait, stranded at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, on August 23, 2024 in Brazil © AFP – Juan Pablo FLORES

And these numbers are only increasing this year: 5,428 applications were filed from January to July, or 25 per day on average, and no less than 864 from August 1 to 21 (41 per day).

Result: hundreds of migrants are massed in a transit zone lacking the necessary reception conditions. The latest count by the authorities reported 481 people on site last Wednesday.

The death on August 13 of a Ghanaian man who had arrived five days earlier has raised alarm bells. “He felt unwell, was treated by a medical team and transferred to a public hospital, where he died after suffering a heart attack,” the Federal Police told AFP, without giving further details.

A local television station showed images last week of dozens of people wearing protective masks in a long line waiting for food.

– “Humanitarian tragedy” –

A report from the Brazilian Public Defender, an organization that provides legal aid to the poorest, noted “repeated situations of human rights violations,” particularly for children, adolescents unaccompanied by adults, and women “in situations of extreme vulnerability.”

Travelers from India and Vietnam wait, stranded at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paulo, on August 23, 2024 in Brazil © AFP – Juan Pablo FLORES

Migrants “sleep on the floor” and “the demand for medical care is only increasing,” the report said, also reporting “very poor hygiene conditions and “

Following an emergency meeting called last week by the Prosecutor's Office, Brazilian authorities have increased the staffing levels of the teams processing asylum applications to reduce delays.

The Sao Paulo-based Afghanistan Refugee Relief Organization deplored the fact that Brazil had decided to address this “humanitarian tragedy” by requiring visas for migrants.

“Trafficking (in people) must be combated and people in vulnerable situations must be welcomed and not treated as criminals,” the association believes.

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