The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) accepted the Union’s request and suspended the injunction of the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3) that prohibited the deportation of illegal immigrants detained at Guarulhos International Airport, in São Paulo.
The decision, last Sunday (1st), considered “the large number of people who use Brazil only as a passageway to other countries”.
The president of the STJ, minister Herman Benjamin, also highlighted the “impossibility” of keeping immigrants crowded in the airport terminal and the health and safety risks they can pose.
This year, more than 550 stranded immigrants were held in the restricted area of terminal 2 at the airport — many with flu-like symptoms, without blankets, warm clothing, adequate food and with restricted access to baths and hygiene, according to the Federal Public Defender’s Office (DPU) .
Despite the suspension, there is no impediment for the Court to analyze individual cases relating to immigration, as long as there is proof that the migrant intends to remain in the country.
Minister Herman Benjamin commented that, according to data from the Federal Police, of the 8,300 asylum requests made to Brazil between 2023 and 2024, only 117 resulted in obtaining national migration registration, and only 262 people registered in the Individual Registry.
“It is clear that less than 2.5% of migrants who enter the country irregularly aim to stay and live in the national territory”. According to him, the other 97.5% aim, “solely and exclusively”, to reach other destinations, making use of a supposed request for refuge that has no basis in reality or in the law.
Brazilian police authorities have identified an international human trafficking network that has Guarulhos Airport as the main gateway to Latin America. Investigations indicate that people are transported to states in the North to begin their journey to the United States.
In August this year, the airport faced a new crisis with an increase in the flow of stranded immigrants. The precarious sanitary conditions led the Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to be notified about an immigrant with symptoms compatible with mpox.
“The stay of those migrants in the location poses a serious risk to their personal and health safety, that of the employees and the terminal itself, which is being used as a place of confinement – in a restricted and small space – of citizens whose health conditions and background, including criminal , they don’t know each other”, stated the minister.
THE CNN contacted Gru Airport and has not yet heard back.
This content was originally published in STJ authorizes deportation of immigrants detained at Guarulhos Airport on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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