A Brazilian man was charged with multiple felonies for impersonating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at a Miami polling site during the Brazilian presidential election on Sunday.
Danilo Alves Silva, 46, is facing three felony counts — voter intimidation, conspiracy to commit bribery and influencing a public servant — and two misdemeanors after being arrested at the Kendall Campus of Miami Dade College in Florida, one of about a dozen locations in the United States where Brazilians living abroad could vote in their country’s general election.
Carlos J. Martinez, a public defender, entered a not guilty plea on Mr. Silva’s behalf. The public defender’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mr. Silva, a Brazilian citizen living in Port St. Lucie, Fla., was seen “aggressively walking around the election site” wearing a blue ICE hat, sunglasses, a face mask, a blue ICE raid jacket and black tactical boots, according to charging documents.
Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office saw Mr. Silva walking from one polling station to another, using a radio to call out his location. Plainclothes detectives with the Department of Homeland Security tried to find Mr. Silva, the documents said, and saw him engage with multiple people who “were clearly in fear” that an ICE agent “was interfering with their election” and “possibly deporting individuals.”
“Due to today’s climate in regards to ICE and it being a Brazilian general election,” with most voters at the polling site being from outside of the United States, “the defendant’s presence was potentially intimidating individuals,” the affidavit said.
When law enforcement officers confronted Mr. Silva and asked if he was a federal agent, Mr. Silva said he was not, and he was taken into custody. He told the officers that his outfit was a costume that he bought on Amazon.
Mr. Silva said he had come to the polling site to vote, the authorities said.
“I got here in my Brazilian jersey and voted,” he told officers, according to the arrest report. He then returned to his car, took off his jersey and put on the ICE costume “to see peoples’ reactions.”
While in the back of the sheriff’s vehicle, Mr. Silva “began to threaten” the arresting detective, “saying that he will regret making this decision and he will come after him and everyone on the scene,” the report said.
Mr. Silva went on to attempt to bribe the arresting officer. “I will get you paid if you let me go,” he said. “We will pay you money, but you have to let me go first.”
He was released on $150 bond on Tuesday, according to court records.
Neil Vigdor contributed reporting.
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