Brazilian police raid criminal group suspected of smuggling migrants to the US

SAO PAULO — Brazil's Federal Police on Thursday conducted raids in six states targeting a criminal group suspected of smuggling migrants to the United States.

The police said the group lured Asian migrants, primarily from Bangladesh and Nepal, to Sao Paulo International Airport. From there, the suspects led them on dangerous routes to northern Brazil, where they crossed into neighboring countries, such as Bolivia and Peru, before continuing through Central America to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.

Police say the suspects charged migrants $10,000 each for the trip and managed a network of people — including taxi drivers, coyotes and hotel employees — who facilitated the illicit journey. The suspects also falsified migrants' documents, allowing them to enter Brazil by requesting temporary residence as refugees, according to the police.

An AP investigation in July found migrants passing through the Amazon coming from Bangladesh, Vietnam and India. Many returned to Acre state, on the border with Peru, as U.S. border policies triggered a wait-and-see attitude among them.

A separate Federal Police investigation found 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.

In August, Brazil started imposing restrictions on the entry of some foreigners from Asia. According to the justice ministry, they required visas to remain in Brazil and use the country as a launching point to migrate to the United States and Canada.

The Federal Police said in a statement Thursday that seven people were preventively detained, and officers executed 35 search and seizure warrants in the northern states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondonia and Roraima, as well as in Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais in the southeast.

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