Brazil criticizes anti-immigrant law in Arizona

The Brazilian government has sharply criticized the law passed by the U.S. state of Arizona on April 22 that would criminalize illegal immigration, and expressed its expectation that the measure will be reviewed.

In a statement released late Monday by Itamaraty, the South American country’s Foreign Ministry, the government said “to give the same treatment to illegal immigrants and criminals subverts basic notions of humanity and justice.”

Brazil’s government has spoken out strongly and repeatedly, in bilateral negotiations and in international forums, against undue association between illegal immigration and crime, the statement said.

In the case of the new Arizona law, “the discretionary power conferred to police officers to check immigration status and to arrest foreign people disrespects human rights of migrants.”

For Brazil, the path to be followed should be to regularize migration, following the example of the Brazilian law approved in July 2009 that promoted a wide regularization of the status of illegal foreigners in the country.

“The Brazilian government joins the events contrary to anti- immigrant law in Arizona. We expect this legislation to be reviewed, in order to prevent the violation of rights of millions of foreigners living and working peacefully in the United States, such as Brazilians who are in that country,” the statement said.