Washington, Jan. 3: With only two days to go before the US authorities start fingerprinting and photographing visitors from Third World countries at all points of entry, Brazil has become the first country to retaliate by imposing similar restrictions on Americans.

More than 200 Americans, who arrived at Sao Paulo international airport yesterday, were photographed and fingerprinted following orders from a federal judge in Brazil insisting on reciprocity in immigration matters with the US.

Judge Julier Sebastiao in the state of Mato Grosso said in a court order this week that he considered discriminatory fingerprinting and photographing of visitors from some countries to the US as “absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst horrors committed by the Nazis”.

Visitors from Canada, Japan and 26 West European countries do not require visas to enter the US and stay for up to 90 days: they will not be photographed or fingerprinted on arrival.

Judge Sebastiao’s order followed complaints from civil rights organisations in Brazil against the new US regulations, known as US-VISIT or US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology.

US state department’s deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said “countries have the sovereign right to determine the entry requirements for foreign nationals who apply for admission to their individual country”.

He said US consulates in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are monitoring developments on this issue closely, but there were no plans to discuss the issue with Brasilia.

“This is their sovereign right to do if they want to do it.”

In Rio de Janeiro, where the local mayor complained bitterly about the court order, police began the procedure only today because of delayed transmission of court orders. The city’s mayor, Cesar Maia, is obviously worried about the loss of revenue from tourism.

He told local media that the action against Americans “makes us an international laughing stock...when Rio has just got some international visibility hosting large sporting and tourist events”.

Judge Sebastiao’s order could be overturned on appeal, but foreign ministry officials in Brasilia told news agencies that the government “never considered” such an appeal. They are, however, expected to ask Washington to exempt Brazilians from US-VISIT, as required by the court order.

According to Wagner Castilho, press officer for the federal police in Sao Paulo, “most of the Americans were angered initially at having to go through all this, but they were usually more understanding once they learned that Brazilians are subjected to the same treatment in the US”.