SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil will begin imposing restrictions on the entry of some foreign citizens from Asia seeking refuge in the South American nation as a means to migrate to the United States and Canada, the justice ministry’s press office said Wednesday.
The move, which will start on Monday, will affect Asian migrants who require visas to remain in Brazil.
A Federal Police investigation has shown these migrants often buy flights with layovers on Sao Paulo’s international airport, en route to other destinations, but stay in Brazil as means to begin their journey north, according to official documents provided to The Associated Press.
More than 70% of requests for refuge at the airport come from people with either Indian, Nepalese or Vietnamese nationalities, one of the documents says.
Starting next week, travelers without visas will either have to continue their journey by plane or return to their country of origin, the ministry said.
A report signed by federal police investigator Marinho da Silva Rezende Júnior informs the justice ministry that there has been “great turmoil” at the Guarulhos airport since the beginning of last year due to the influx of migrants.
“Evidence suggests that those migrants, in their majority, are making use of the known — and extremely dangerous — route that goes from Sao Paulo the state of Acre, so they can access Peru and go towards Central America and then, finally, reach the U.S. from its southern border,” one of the documents says.
Brazil saw waves of migrants passing through to North America in the first part of the year, and many returned to its state of Acre in the Amazon as U.S. border policies triggered a wait-and-see attitude among them, an AP investigation showed in July.
Brazil’s justice ministry said that the new guidelines will not apply to more than 400 migrants currently staying at Sao Paulo’s international airport.
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