<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Kidz:
I just wonder when was the last time an American commited a terrorist act or immigrated illegaly into Brazil.

There is quite a substantial population of Americans who overstay their Brazilian visas and some illegal "permanents" as well; it is far less than the number of Brazilians overstaying in the US but illegal immigration into Brazil (by my fellow Americans) is far from unheard.

Obviously they're only looking to put pressure on the U.S. Gov which dosen't seem to be working.
That being said I wonder at their decisions not only to be pained in the neck by U.S. policy but also turning tourists away from comming to spend their green dollars in Brazil.

Currently, we are soon to begin turning away people from Europe and elsewhere (Visa Waiver Countries) if their passports do not hold up to some manufactured standard we are artificially setting regarding "machine-readable". In the case of Boston, NYC, DC, Miami this may be a significant hit to international tourism and our higher education establishments for a few years.

I am paranoid about security too, but I don't find comfort in false hopes and half-arsed provisioning. I also don't believe in 100% security, for it is far from effective or realistic by any absolute measure.</font>