Brazil Issues Decree Authorizing Summary Deportation of “Dangerous” Foreigners

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sérgio Moro, published in the Federal Gazette on Friday, July 26th, a decree authorizing the summary deportation of people who are “dangerous to the security of Brazil” or who have “committed an act contrary to the principles and objectives set forth in the Federal Constitution.”

Dated July 25th, 2019, Decree No. 666 also deals with the prohibition of entry, repatriation, and cancellation of the permission to stay to individuals who meet these conditions.

According to the text, individuals suspected of terrorism, involvement in a criminal group, drug, human or firearm trafficking, pornography and child and youth abuse or a history of violence in stadiums may be classified as “dangerous or who have committed an act contrary to the Federal Constitution.”

In addition, summary deportation may be ordered based on “intelligence information from Brazilian or foreign officials” and on “ongoing criminal investigation.”

“The individual who falls under the deportation measure addressed in this decree will be personally notified to submit a defense or leave the country voluntarily, within forty-eight hours from the notification,” reads the text.

US journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept, who posted private messages between Moro and Lava Jato’s prosecutors in the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), criticized the ordinance.

“Today Sérgio Moro decided to randomly publish a law on how foreigners may be summarily deported or expelled from Brazil. This is terrorism,” Greenwald wrote on Twitter.

The Minister of Justice was further criticized by the president of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), Felipe Santa Cruz, who, according to Folha de S.Paulo, accused him of playing the “gang leader” by claiming that he would destroy the messages that had been obtained by the four alleged hackers arrested by Federal Police.

Moro advised government officials that they had been hacked by the suspects, although the Federal Police’s investigation was confidential. In his Twitter profile, the minister said he has no list. “The hundreds of victims of illegal hacking have a right to know that they were victims. They’re just being briefed. I don’t have a list; I’m just advising a few,” he said.