SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – US authorities have arrested four Brazilians who entered the United States illegally through the Canadian border. All the defendants had the help of the same “coyotes”, underlines the American government. The episode took place on the 20th, but was released on Tuesday (23).

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), federal agents spotted three men on a jet ski, crossing the border between Canada and the United States, in Port Huron, Michigan. Two of them, the agency said, got off the boat, walked down the road and got into a car – the jet ski pilot returned from the Canadian side.

The two men were arrested shortly after, still in the car transporting them. They identified themselves as 34- and 35-year-old Brazilians and, according to the US government, admitted to crossing the border illegally. The driver of the car, a 39-year-old American, was also arrested.

A few hours later, officers noticed the same movement: a similar jet ski left two people in the same area and returned to Canada. This time, however, the two immigrants were accosted by police before getting into the car. When questioned, they also identified themselves as Brazilian – a 47-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman.

All were taken to the CBP station in Marysville, and there the identity of the detainees was confirmed. “These criminals made a brazen attempt on a busy weekend,” said patrol leader Robert Danley.

Also according to the US government, Canadian federal police arrested two other people involved in the scheme. It is not known, however, if the detainees were the jet ski drivers.

“This speaks to the importance of federal and international partnerships in our border security mission,” said CBP chief Marc Sledge. “Our officers do an extraordinary job every day to protect America,” he added.

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Such arrests are common at US borders. The greatest intensity, however, occurs at the US-Mexico border, where millions of people are arrested trying to enter the country illegally. Sometimes immigrants die before they even set foot on American soil.

As the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper showed on the 16th, a federal police investigation shed light on the death of a 21-year-old Brazilian who was abandoned by a coyote last year when he attempted to illegally cross the Mexican border with the United States. The body was found on April 19, six days after the failed attempt.

The family of Ayron Henrickson Fernandes Gonçalves did not discover the outcome of the story until five months after his death, and the young man was buried as a pauper. His case, however, was not the only one involving Brazilians who lost their lives in this way. Since 2020, at least eight Brazilians have died trying to make the crossing – one of the best-known cases is that of Lenilda dos Santos, which happened almost a year ago. There are also reports of kidnappings, rapes, extortion and abandonment along the way.

In early August, the US Department of Homeland Security announced the end of a measure requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for the application to be processed by US courts.

The Migrant Protection Protocol – a policy known as ‘Stay in Mexico’ – was instituted by former President Donald Trump in 2020 and has sent at least 70,000 asylum seekers to the neighboring country since he entered in effect, according to the US Immigration Council. The program has been criticized for placing vulnerable people in border towns in unsafe conditions.

With the ruling, no one else will be included in the protection protocol and those who cross the border to attend court hearings will not be sent back to Mexico.