 A Federal Police operation investigated Chinese immigrants who traveled through six countries before arriving in São Paulo to work under substandard conditions in the textile industry.After signing the 2009 amnesty bill into law, President Lula da Silva said, in a speech, that "repression and intolerance against immigrants will not solve the problems caused by" the financial crisis of 2007–2008, thereby also harshly criticizing the "policy of discrimination and prejudice" against immigrants in developed nations.An October 2009 piece from O Globo, quoting a UNDP study, estimates the number of illegal immigrants at 0.7 million, and points out to a recent wave of xenophobia among the general populace.