Minnesota
American couple stranded in Brazil facing 'bureaucratic nightmare' after newborn son arrives months early
A Minnesota couple in the midst of a “bureaucratic nightmare” amid a months-long stay in Brazil, where paperwork issues regarding their newborn son have prevented them from returning to the United States, is one step closer to being able to leave.
Chris and Cheri Phillips, of Cambridge, located 50 miles north of Minneapolis, visited the South American nation in February for what was supposed to be a two-week trip. The couple consulted with doctors before leaving and were encouraged to travel, as Cheri Phillips’ due date was not until June 2.
Chris, who has a young daughter who lives in Brazil with her mother, visits the country at least three times each year. His wife usually accompanies him on at least one of those trips, they said.
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Greyson Phillips in his crib. Greyson was born in Brazil several months early. (Chris Phillips)
On March 8, two days before they were slated to return home, Cheri Phillips began bleeding, and they went to the hospital. Several days later, Greyson Phillips was born through C-section. He spent 51 days in a neonatal intensive care unit before being discharged to his parents on May 3.
“While his health track has gone overall quite well, we are still stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare with regards to Brazilian documentation and American documentation,” Chris Phillips told Fox News Digital from the AirBnb where the family is staying in the coastal city of Florianópolis. “The only reason we can’t bring him home is because he doesn’t have a Brazilian birth certificate, and we can’t get him his American passport until he’s got that birth certificate.”
Despite the fight for their son’s life, the fight to get him to the U.S. has proven to be an unexpected challenge. To leave the country, they needed a passport for Greyson, which requires a birth certificate. However, the local registry office, called a cartorio, refused to issue one because the passports for Chris and Cheri Phillips do not have the names of their parents on them, which is required in Brazil, they said.
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Cheri and Chris Phillips with their newborn son Greyson Phillips following his premature birth in Brazil. (Chris Phillips)
Loved ones back in Minnesota sent the couple their individual birth certificates containing their parents’ names and their marriage license. A court translator said the documents would still be denied because they lack an apostille, a little-known provision that certifies a document to be recognized by member nations of the 1961 Hague Convention, Chris Phillips said.
As their plight caught the attention of the Brazilian media, the cartorio “had a change of heart” and issued Greyson’s birth certificate. The agency blamed the holdup on an employee who refused to comply with the request, Chris Phillips said over the weekend.
“No acknowledgement of wrongdoing. No admission of ignorance regarding a law of which they should have been fully aware,” he said in a statement. “No apology for the 2+ months of unnecessary stress and mental anguish they had caused for Cheri and me.”
“Supposedly, as we were told by somebody here, Brazil had passed a law in 2023 that excludes foreigners from needing to present official documents with apostles that contain a child’s grandparents’ names in order to process their Brazilian birth certificate,” he said in a statement.
Getting American documentation was equally difficult. Getting the proper paperwork required Greyson’s birth certificate and a trip to a U.S. consulate or embassy. The nearest facility is some 300 miles away in an area that has been heavily impacted by flooding.
Additionally, the newborn doesn’t fit in a car seat, so driving was out of the question, Chris Phillips said. The couple contracted a local lawyer, but the court process has been slowed to a halt, likening the infant to a child without a country, they said.
“He (Greyson) does not exist officially on paper yet in any system,” Chris Phillips said last week. “He has not officially been registered as they say in Brazil.”
The couple also reached out to Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., for help to cut some of the red tape.
“He (Greyson) does not exist officially on paper yet in any system.”
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Cheri Phillips seen being discharged from a Brazilian hospital after giving birth to Greyson Phillips. (Chris Phillips)
“I can only imagine the incredible stress that this family has had to endure, both in giving birth unexpectedly in Brazil and then having to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to come home,” Smith said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “After calling on the Embassy in Brasilia to do more to help the family, we received the news that they will provide extra service to ensure the family does not have to travel to get a U.S. passport.”
As of Sunday, the couple was working with the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia to produce a passport for the son.
“We will not begin to feel truly comfortable until we have that passport in hand. To be clear, we still have a long road ahead of us. But, at long last, at least we can see it,” Chris said.
Aside from the stress of trying to navigate Brazil’s legal system, the Phillips have had to deal with the mental and financial ramifications of their predicament.
“I don’t speak Portuguese and not a lot of people here speak English,” said Cheri Phillips, a first-time mother. “It’s incredibly taxing to go through childbirth and having a child in the hospital when you can’t directly talk to their care team.”
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Greyson Phillips sits in a crib at the Brazilian hospital, left, and is with his mother, Cheri Phillips. (Chris Phillips)
The family has had to stay in several Airbnb properties, forcing them to move each time their reservation ends. Additionally, they have had to extend the contract for their rental car and adjust their flight home, which can come with significant costs. Their health insurance provider has so far covered their medical expense claims, Chris Phillips said.
Chris, a photographer and video producer for a pediatric health provider, has been working remotely, and Cheri will return to work virtually on a part-time basis next week.
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“Getting him home, that’s the goal now,” he said. “By birth, he’s is a Brazilian citizen. Being born to Americans, he has a right to be an American citizen, which he will be.”
“By birth, he’s is a Brazilian citizen. Being born to Americans, he has a right to be an American citizen, which he will be.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment.
Minnesota
Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes further into US, engulfing DC in eerie haze
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday, as smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze.
Air quality warnings were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., but there’s potential for temporary relief with rains and storms forecast over a chunk of the affected region over the weekend.
The smoky conditions won’t be gone anytime soon, though, as fires burn unchecked across a remote region of Canada, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland. Wildfires in a wilderness area in Minnesota are also contributing to the smoke.
“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” he said. “So in some form, there’s going to be smoke that gets transported from the fires downstream, and it’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”
On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois closest to the Canadian border and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.
Not far behind them was Washington, D.C., where the thick smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks could be seen enveloped in a thick, orange-hued haze in the morning.
“Wow that Canadian smoke haze is no joke,” Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X as he shared a panorama of D.C. at sunrise. “Almost nothing visible – no sun, no monuments, no Reagan Airport.”
Air in and around Washington was expected to go from bad to worse as the day progressed, reaching “very unhealthy” and potentially “hazardous” levels on the air quality index, regional officials said.
People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside as much as possible until air quality improved.
There was also concern in the New York City area about how the foul air might impact the World Cup final match between soccer powerhouses Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.
Oravec said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day Sunday than on Saturday.
Just a day earlier, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.
Officials from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other Northeast states distributed free K95 face masks, canceled outdoor programming and opened libraries and other public buildings as cooling centers where people could get a respite from the sooty air.
As Friday progressed, air quality measures improved from “unhealthy” to “moderate” in some places in and around New York City.
A strong sun broke through a thin veil of smoke, and large chunks of clear blue sky were visible across much of the region by Friday afternoon.
Saturday brings a high chance of thunderstorms across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, which will help dampen the bad air.
How long the reprieve lasts depends on what happens hundreds of miles north, as some 100 wildfires burn without end in sight, largely in the Ontario area in Canada. In the U.S., officials have closed the Boundary Waters while battling multiple fires.
Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death.
See how the bald eagle’s story shows its enduring symbolism
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, the bald eagle endures as North America’s native sea eagle and national bird.
The common loon, Minnesota’s state bird, is more closely related to a penguin than a duck.
Despite loons predominantly living in the northern hemisphere and penguins mostly living in the southern hemisphere, researchers consider them to be genetic cousins. Taxonomic analyses placed them in an evolutionary cluster tracing back 40 million to 50 million years ago, along with herons and pelicans.
While loons and ducks share habitat on Minnesota lakes, they aren’t close relatives. Ducks are closer cousins to geese and swans.
After sharing a common ancestor, penguins and loons developed distinct characteristics. Loons can fly, but struggle to move on land; penguins can’t fly, but waddle on land. Penguins use flipper-like wings to swim; loons use webbed feet for underwater propulsion.
They have some similar features, however, including dense bones to help dive underwater and their tuxedo coloring.
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Fires in the past burned more frequently in western Canada, but recent years have seen that trend migrate eastward, with large fires now burning in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces, Prof Chasmer said, leading to more noticeable smoke in densely populated cities like Toronto and New York.
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