Trump’s actions are a new smokescreen for the government, says Moro
Senator says that the use of handcuffs in deported foreigners “is not from now and will continue to be so”; procedure is standard in the US
Senator Sérgio Moro (Union – PR) used social networks this Sunday (25.Jan.2025) to criticize the repercussion around the use of handcuffs in Brazilians deported from the United States. He classified the debate as a “smokescreen” to divert attention from what he considers the “failure” of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
“The Trump Administration’s actions are the new smokescreen for the Lula Government failure” The transport of deported foreigners with handcuffs is an exaggeration for those without criminal conviction, but it is not from now and will continue to be so,” Moro wrote on his profile on X (ex-Twitter).
The case gained repercussion after a group of deported Brazilians landed in Manaus (AM) on Friday (Jan 26).
Ministers and congressmen from the government base praised Lula’s decision to mobilize a FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane to complete the displacement of the deportees to Belo Horizonte (MG), “in order to ensure that they can complete the trip with dignity and safety”.
The Minister of Justice, Ricardo Lewandowski, ordered the removal of the handcuffs as soon as the aircraft landed on Brazilian soil. The use of the device, considered standard in the United States, was criticized on social networks.
According to Poder360’s investigation, the deportees are Brazilians who, for the most part, were arrested in the US for being in the country irregularly and can no longer resort to US justice.
In the United States, when someone is in the custody of the State for having committed an offense – including having entered the country illegally – the standard procedure is to be handcuffed when being transported from one place to another.
No matter the seriousness of the offense: everyone needs to have limited movements. In some cases, handcuffs are placed on the wrists and ankles of those who are detained. This is done to protect police officers from possible attacks by arrested people – including during flights, as was the case with the plane that brought Brazilians who were illegal in the US back to Brazil.
As in Manaus it was a FAB aircraft that continued the route to Belo Horizonte, the deportees were already under Brazilian jurisdiction and it would no longer be necessary to wear handcuffs or follow the US legal procedures. Strictly speaking, the order of the Ministry of Justice only expressed something that would already happen anyway.
Brazilians arrived in Manaus on Friday (24.Jan) and are part of the 1st wave of deportations to the country after the inauguration of President Donald Trump (Republican Party), on Monday (20.Jan). These deportations, however, are part of an agreement signed in 2018, during the government of then-President Michel Temer (MDB), starting in 2019. In other words, they have no relation to the measures signed by the Republican.
As shown by Poder360, the government of Joe Biden (Democrat Party) deported more Brazilians than those of Barack Obama (Democrat Party) and Donald Trump. From 2021 to 2024, 7,168 Brazilians were deported, which corresponds to 1.31% of the total deportations, which totaled 545,252.