Lower House special commission approves new Immigration Law

Legislation is intended to replace the Foreigner Act, created during the military dictatorship, and guarantee immigrants equal rights

The special commission of the Lower House of Congress responsible for analyzing the bill that creates Brazil’s new Immigration Law (Bill 2516/15, originally from the Senate) approved this Wednesday, July 13, the report by Congressman Orlando Silva in support of the text. The bill will now proceed, with priority status, for voting in a full session of the house. If approved, it will return to the Senate.

Drafted by Senator Aloysio Nunes, the bill will replace the Foreigner Act, which was created in 1980 during the military dictatorship and is focused on border protection and national security. The text approved yesterday abandons this perspective and establishes human rights as the guiding principle for national immigration policy.

It also eliminates restrictions on immigrant rights, such as the ban on participation in political demonstrations, and reinforces initiatives that are now provisional and limited, such as the issuing of humanitarian visas, which currently only applies for Haitians and Syrians.

“This approval is an important step for all of us who believe in the urgency of reforming the way Brazil takes in immigrants. There are aspects that still need to be strengthened in the text and civil society will continue to work actively so this new law can be inclusive and serve as a model for other countries,” said Camila Asano, coordinator of the Foreign Policy program at Conectas.

After the vote, six organizations that work with the topic of immigration released a public statement applauding the approval of the bill, but also warning of attempts to water it down.

“The vote shows that the threats of setbacks are very real. This is why social mobilization to end the Foreigner Act needs to be stepped up, so the full session of the lower house can approve a text that is even more protective of rights,” said the organizations, in reference to the request to withdraw a provision in the bill that explicitly addresses the right to due legal process in cases when immigrants are denied entry to Brazil and repatriated. This request was made by Congressmen Fernando Francischini and Marcos Rogério and accepted by the author of the report, Congressman Orlando Silva.

The organizations denounced that “at the eleventh hour, heavy pressure from conservative forces before the vote prevented greater headway from being made towards stopping arbitrary decisions in procedures for denying entry and repatriation, in disrespect for due legal process. This is a fundamental constitutional guarantee in both judicial and administrative proceedings, and it should not be diminished”.

Click here to read the public statement in full.

Real progress

Nevertheless, the organizations said that the text approved by the lower house commission is more assertive than the version that was passed in the Senate in terms of equality for immigrants in the eyes of the law, regardless of their immigration status.

One important change is that, if the current version of the bill is approved and signed into law, no immigrant may be criminalized for being undocumented.

“One of the main advances of the bill is that it guarantees the non-discrimination of immigrants. They have the same rights and duties as Brazilian citizens and they may not be punished with detention for lack of documentation,” said Asano.

She pointed out, however, that the new immigration law is incompatible with the current institutional framework, in which a decisive role is played by the Federal Police. “After the approval of the law, the next step will be for the Executive to create a national immigration authority”.

The new law will also reinforce an existing policy, currently provisional and limited, of issuing humanitarian visas so at-risk people can travel to Brazil and, if necessary, request refugee status once they are here. This policy has had to be renewed by the Ministry of Justice and it is only valid for Syrians and Haitians. The text approved today extends this benefit to all nationalities.

SUR 23

Conectas released the 23rd issue of the Sur Journal last week, with a whole section on the state of migration in the world. The publication is available for free in Portuguese, English and Spanish on the website sur.conectas.org.