Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is seeking to remain in the United States, leaving President Joe Biden with a major diplomatic test as the new Brazilian government weighs Bolsonaro’s extradition back to the country following his supporters’ violent attempt to overturn the result of the country’s elections earlier this year.
On Friday, the right-wing politician—who recently concluded a stay at a Miami hospital after arriving in the country on Dec. 30—reportedly submitted an application for a six-month visitor visa to remain in the U.S. in what some believe is an attempt to avoid scrutiny for his possible role in the insurrection as well as alleged wrongdoing he’d committed as president.
“I think Florida will be his temporary home away from home,” Felipe Alexandre, Bolsonaro’s attorney and founder of AG Immigration, told the Financial Times on Monday. “Right now, with his situation, I think he needs a little stability.”
Under former President Donald Trump—a close ally of Bolsonaro’s who regularly praised his management of the country—that might have been a sure prospect. But times have changed.
A Democrat now sits in the White House, and while the pair have maintained a cordial relationship in the first half of Biden’s first term, the sitting president has faced pressure to return Bolsonaro to face his countrymen and the new, leftist-controlled government for accountability.
Earlier this month, 41 Democratic members of Congress signed a letter calling on the Biden administration to revoke Bolsonaro’s visa, writing “We must not allow Mr. Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian officials to take refuge in the United States to escape justice for any crimes they may have committed when in office.”
Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Bolsonaro for comment. Meanwhile, the White House and the U.S. Department of State have been relatively quiet on the situation involving Bolsonaro.
Since denying having received any extradition requests from the Brazilian government earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has issued no statements on Bolsonaro’s diplomatic status, while President Biden has given no indication whether he intends to approve or deny Bolsonaro’s request to remain in the country. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters earlier this month that any request from Brazil’s government related to Bolsonaro would be evaluated under existing legal precedent.
Time is ticking. Anyone entering the U.S. on an A-1 visa reserved for sitting heads of state—which Bolsonaro applied for upon entering the country—would have 30 days to either leave the country or adjust their status with the Department of Homeland Security. And while Bolsonaro has not been charged with anything, the wolves are closing in. Last week, Brazil police raided the home of Bolsonaro’s nephew, Leonardo Rodrigues de Jesus, in a probe examining his connection to the January 8 storming of the Brazilian capital.
Without charges against Bolsonaro, however, it is unclear whether Biden has the grounds to deny Bolsonaro’s visa—something the former President’s son, Flávio, noted in recent comments to the Brazilian press late last week.
“The far left in the U.S. plays the role of the far left here. They push for a political issue,” the younger Bolsonaro said. “I believe that the U.S. is a serious country that won’t do anything illegal.”
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment.
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