Country to restrict entry to some Asian nationals, aiming to curb migration to the US and Canada

SAO PAULO (AP):

Brazil will begin imposing restrictions on the entry of some foreigners from Asia who use the country as a launching point to migrate to the United States and Canada, the justice ministry’s press office said Wednesday.

The move, which starts on Monday, will affect migrants from Asian countries who require visas to remain in Brazil. It does not apply to people from Asian countries currently exempt from visas to Brazil. US citizens and many European nationals also do not require visas for Brazil.

A Federal Police investigation has shown these migrants often buy flights with layovers in Sao Paulo’s international airport, en route to other destinations, but stay in Brazil as a place from where they then begin their journey north, according to official documents provided to The Associated Press.

More than 70 per cent of requests for refuge at the airport come from people with either Indian, Nepalese or Vietnamese nationalities, one of the documents says. The African nations of Somalia, Cameroon, Ghana and Ethiopia are among the remaining 30 per cent of refuge seekers.

Starting next week, travellers 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 since the beginning of last year there has been “great turmoil” due to the influx of migrants at the airport in Guarulhos, a city located in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area.

“Evidence suggests that those migrants, for the most part, are making use of the known – and extremely dangerous – route that goes from Sao Paulo to the western state of Acre, so they can access Peru and go toward Central America and then, finally, reach the US from its southern border,” one of the documents says.

Brazil has historically welcomed refugees, particularly Afghans in recent years, regardless of ideological leanings of the Latin American country’s leaders.

But reports of migrants seeking refugee status as a means to use Brazil as a waystation has caused frustration in the government, particularly at a time when the system is burdened by many people from Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine seeking humanitarian visas.