Office of the Historian

File No. 4517/2–3.

Ambassador Dudley to the Secretary of State.

American Embassy,
Petropolis, June 5, 1907.
No. 30.]

Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith two copies and a translation of regulations just promulgated by the President of Brazil providing the procedure for the enforcement of the Brazilian law for the expulsion of undesirable foreigners, a copy of which accompanied embassy’s No. 90 of January 10, 1907.

I have, etc.,

Irving B. Dudley.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Instructions for the execution of Decree No. 1641, of January 7, 1907.

  • Article 1. The expulsion of the foreigner, from part or from all the national territory, may take place in the following cases:
    I.
    When the foreigner, for any reason, compromises the national security or the public tranquillity.
    II.
    When he has been condemned or prosecuted by foreign courts for crimes or offenses of a public nature, or when he has been twice convicted by Brazilian courts for crimes or offenses of the same nature.
    III.
    When he is a tramp, mendicant, or practices acts of pandering. (Decree No. 1641 of January 7, 1907, arts. 1 and 2.)
  • Art. 2. The expulsion provided for in No. I of article 1 may be ordered by the Federal Government upon all occasions in which the individual shows himself, in the exclusive judgment of the Federal Government, prejudicial to the interests of national security or of public order, in any part of the Union.
  • Art. 3. The condemnation and prosecution by foreign courts is considered proved, sufficient for expulsion, either in view of the data obtained from the governments of the countries to which the individuals in question belong, or in view of certificates thereof, made in due form by proper officers.
  • The condemnation and prosecution by Brazilian courts will be proved in this second manner whenever it is established that definite sentences, passed to judgement, are treated of.
    • First. Vagabondage and beggary will be proved by the warrant for imprisonment in flagrant infractions.
    • Second. The proof of pandering must be made clear by authorized police inquiry, either by the existence of documents of acknowledged probatory worth, or the depositions of at least two credible witnesses affirming the truth of the charge.
  • Art. 4. The expulsion will be individual and will be made by act of the minister of justice and domestic affairs.
  • Art. 5. The act of expulsion having been issued, the foreigner will be officially notified, in writing, of the motives that determined the decision of the Government, allowing him from three to thirty days to leave the country; if it is found necessary, he may be held until the moment of departure.
  • Art. 6. In the federal district the act of the Government will be executed by the chief of police, the disposition of the preceding article being observed.
  • Art. 7. Inside of the time allowed the foreigner to leave the country, he may, the expulsion being based upon article 1, appeal to the executive power through a petition addressed to the minister of justice, furnishing him with any documents admitted in law substantiating the appeal.
  • Art. 8. In other cases where expulsion may be ordered, the appeal will be made before a federal court, and shall always have a suspensive effect.
  • The last-mentioned appeal shall consist in establishing proof of the falsity of the motive of expulsion, before the sectional judge, there being present a representative of the public ministry, and an appeal lying at the option of both parties to the supreme federal tribunal.
  • Art. 9. The presidents and governors of the States may make requisition upon the Federal Government for the expulsion of the foreigner within such State, whenever such person falls within any of the conditions provided for by Nos. I, II, and III of Article 1 of the present instructions.
    • First. Requisitions must be accompanied by the data—copies of the inquiry or any other documents, that may prove not only the identity of the individual whom it is proposed to expel, but his age, nationality, whether married or single, and profession, together with the facts or acts of which he is charged.
    • Second. The Federal Government, in accord with the state governments, will take the necessary administrative measures to observe the disposition in article 12 of these instructions. In the federal district it is the duty of the chief of police to look to the suitableness of the measures referred to.
  • Art. 10. The requisitions of the governors of the States having been attended to, the minister of justice will give them immediately knowledge of the fact, to the end that they may take steps in harmony with the provision of article 5.
  • Art. 11. A foreigner may not be expelled who has resided in the federal district or in the States for two consecutive years, or for less time if married to a Brazilian woman, or who is a widower with a child by a Brazilian woman. (Art. 3 of decree referred to.)
  • Art. 12. A foreigner will be denied entrance into Brazilian territory whose conduct in the country from which he came may be classified among any of the cases which justify expulsion. (Art. 4 of decree referred to.)
  • Art. 13. The Government may revoke the expulsion if the causes determining it have ceased to exist—or may allow an extension of time to that already fixed for the foreigner to leave the country.
  • Art. 14. The foreigner who returns to the territory from which he has been expelled will be punished with a penalty of from one to three years’ imprisonment, in accordance with the existing penitentiary system, in proceedings prepared and tried by the sectional judge, with all legal recourses; and after the sentence has been fulfilled he will be again expelled. (Art. 9 of the decree referred to.)
  • Art. 15. The minister of justice in his annual report will inform Congress minutely in reference to the writs issued, attaching a list of the individuals who have been expelled, under direct decision of the Federal Government or upon requisition from the governors of the States.
  • Art. 16. In the office of the director-general of justice of the department of state, under which all services are to be executed concerning the execution of the decree No. 1641 of January 7 of the present year, there shall be kept in a special book the register of the writs of the Government issued by virtue of the said decree.
Rio de Janeiro, May 3, 1907.

(Signed)
Augusts Tavares de Lyra.