RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The United States announced on Sunday, May 24th, through a proclamation signed by President Donald Trump, that as of May 29th, foreigners coming from Brazil will be prevented from entering the country because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump had been contemplating taking the measure for a few days because of the increase in the number of cases in Brazil, which ranks second among the countries with the most people infected, behind the US.
“We are considering it,” Trump told reporters at the White House on May 19th. “I don’t want people to come here and infect our people,” he said.
“Today the President took the decisive step to protect our country by suspending the entry of foreigners who were in Brazil for 14 days before seeking admittance to the United States,” said a statement from White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Sunday.
“Today’s action will ensure that foreigners who have been in Brazil do not become an additional source of infection in our country. These new restrictions do not apply to commercial flights between the US and Brazil,” the note adds.
According to a senior government official, “the President has spoken with President Jair Bolsonaro twice over the past two months regarding their common fight against the Covid-19. We appreciate the ongoing regional response from Brazil and the US partner countries to help protect the public interests of the United States and its people”.
“The United States appreciates the close cooperation of the Government of Brazil in fighting the pandemic and acknowledges its efforts to do so within its country”.
“The United States will donate 1,000 ventilators to Brazil to help with health needs. These travel restrictions are designed to protect US and Brazilian citizens and in no way imply a decline in the strong bilateral relationship between our two countries,” the statement said.
Each week, over 1,500 passengers land in US airports coming from Brazil. Between May 11th and 17th, approximately 1,800 travelers from Brazil entered the United States.
Flights between the two countries are currently quite reduced. Today, the only States still operating flights to and from Brazil are Texas and Florida.
Exceptions
The travel restriction does not apply to U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents (Green Card Holders), most immediate family members of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents, and specific categories of individual visa holders who are identified in the Proclamation.
Airline crew members or individuals entering the country at the invitation of the US government are also exempt from the ban.
The full text of the Proclamation, containing all the specific exemptions, can be found here:
Few flights
Trump spoke of restricting travelers from Brazil for the first time on April 28th, when he said he was “closely monitoring” what he termed a “serious outbreak” of the novel coronavirus in Brazil.
“Brazil has a serious outbreak, as you know. They also went in another direction than other countries in South America, if you look at the data, you will see what unfortunately happened with Brazil,” Trump said that day.
The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, attended the meeting with Trump and said he saw no need to suspend flights from Miami and Fort Lauderdale to Brazil at this time. But the President insisted, “If you need to stop flights, let us know”.
However, the following day, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he wanted to restart air travel between Brazil and the United States – which is quite reduced – in order to “recover the economy”.
Nothing specific against Brazil
Filipe Martins, special advisor to the Brazilian Presidency on international affairs, used his profile on social media to comment on Trump’s decree.
“By temporarily banning Brazilians from entering the US, the American government is following previously established quantitative guidelines, which naturally affect a country as populous as ours. There is nothing specific against Brazil. Ignore the media hysteria,” he wrote.
In the past, the US had already banned the entry of people from other countries due to the coronavirus pandemic: from China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau), Iran, European countries in the Schengen zone, the UK and Ireland.
Source: G1