Kiddie Border-Jump Racket Gets A Name In Portuguese: "Cai Cai"
07/19/2018
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As I have noted before, you don't have to walk far in the business district of any city in a Sun People country before you see a shingle advertising help on how to game U.S. immigration laws. World-wide, figuring ways to finagle entrance to the U.S.A. is a major industry, with revenues probably in the billions. And when you're in, you're in!

A friend in Brazil sent me this item from a news source in that country. His translation:

Ji-Paraná-Rondônia – With the support of their Interpol representation, the Brazilian Federal Police [FP] have triggered today the third phase of Operation Pirates of the Caribbean, to crack down on the international branch of an criminal organization of coyotes responsible for promoting the illegal entrance of Brazilians into the US.

The operation is a joint effort of Brazilian, Bahaman and US authorities with the support of the U.S.A.'s ICE Agency (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Two arrests and three searches have been done in Brazil and abroad.

It is estimated that this criminal organization has generated some US$ 6 million gross income and send every year on average some 150 adults and 30 children or teenagers to cross the US border illegally. The investigation has found out that many Brazilians have died during the crossing. In some cases they were murdered.

In this round, Federal Police are searching for more evidences on the disappearance in November 2016 of 12 Brazilian citizens who were trying to cross the sea from the Bahamas to the U.S.A. FP are seizing assets from the coyotes to compensate the victims' families and arrest the boss of the criminal organization responsible for the "cai cai" scheme. This consists in promoting the illegal entrance of adults accompanied by children or teenagers, a practice that guarantees them not being immediately deported if caught by American officials.

This third round of Operation Pirates of the Caribbean features two novelties: is totally performed in the electronic inquest facility, and it is one of the first repression initiatives against a newly inserted crime in the Brazilian Penal Code (promoting illegal immigration) which entered into force in the final months of 2017.

My friend adds the following by way of explaining Operation Pirates of the Caribbean.

The investigations started after news emerged about the disappearance of Brazilian citizens who tried to enter the U.S. illegally with the help of coyotes that used a route through the Bahamas.

Before leaving Brazil, the illegal immigrants stayed in cities served by international airports waiting for the "departure order" from the Bahamas, once a Bahamian official had pledged to facilitate the entrance after being bribed. Once in Bahamas, the immigrants waited many days before departing on a boat and then sneaking in American territory.

In addition in all risks involved in illegal immigration, the coyotes omitted the real dangers of the crossing in the Bermuda Triangle, a region prone to shipwrecks due to a high incidence of storms and hurricanes.

"Cai cai" is pronounced "kye kye." The literal meaning is "fall fall." My friend's best guess as to the etymology is that it is taken from soccer. In that context, "cai cai" refers to a player who over-reacts to being tackled – falling down and feigning agony in hopes of getting his side a free kick, or better yet a penalty kick.

The Brazilian player Neymar is well known for this. The analogy is with border-jumpers who present themselves to U.S. authorities weeping and wailing as victims of violence or persecution in their home countries.

 

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