President Joe Biden is facing growing pressure to extradite Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president of Brazil with ties to Donald Trump, whose supporters attacked the country’s capital in an assault reminiscent of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection in Washington, D.C.
Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before the end of his term on January 1, after spending months contesting his defeat in Brazil’s presidential election last October. His supporters stormed the Supreme Court, Congress and presidential palace in the capital city of Brasilia on Sunday, which led to the detention of more than 1,200 protesters, according to Brazilian law enforcement authorities.
The crisis in Brazil has created an unexpected political firestorm for Biden, drawing him into a debate over whether the United States should offer refuge to a former head of state who echoed Trump in blaming his defeat on a “rigged election.”
Biden called the assault on Brazil’s capital “outrageous” on Sunday. He followed up with a joint statement Monday issued with the leaders of Mexico and Canada condemning the attack “on Brazil’s democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power.”
But the president, who is in Mexico this week to attend the North American Leaders’ Summit, did not blame Bolsonaro directly for the unrest or say if he was considering removing him from the country. A growing chorus of U.S. lawmakers, frustrated with the administration’s decision to allow Bolsonaro entry into the country, found his early response to the issue too weak.
Representative Joaquin Castro of Texas was among the first Democrats to call for Bolsonaro’s removal from the country.
In an interview Monday with Newsweek, Castro accused Brazil’s former leader of following Trump’s playbook by using false claims of a “rigged election” to incite his supporters and cast doubt on the outcome of a presidential election. Bolsonaro lost the runoff to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2011.
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Castro told Newsweek that there are “very clear connections” not just between Trump and Bolsonaro, but also between Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s former campaign managers and top aides, and Bolsonaro.
The congressman noted that Bannon recorded video messages on behalf of Bolsonaro, while often invoking the prospect of a “Brazilian Spring” on his podcast. Trump also cut a video giving his “strong” endorsement to the former leader.
“[It’s] not an accident he ended up in Florida,” Castro said of Bolsonaro.
The former Brazilian leader is reportedly staying in the Orlando area, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Castro is not the only House Democrat to go after Bolsonaro, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeting that the U.S. must stand in solidarity with Lula and “cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.”
Representative Ruben Gallego of Arizona tweeted that “any Brazilian official using Florida or any state in the U.S. as a staging ground for a coup should be deported and handed over to Brazilian authorities.”
But it remains unclear what process the administration would use to remove the former Brazilian president from the country.
Reuters reported Monday that Bolsonaro, who faced allegations of corruption before stepping down, likely entered the U.S. on a special visa reserved for former heads of state. It’s possible that visa could be revoked if Bolsonaro is charged with a crime in Brazil and the government requests his extradition.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that the administration had not yet received any official requests from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro. Sullivan said if a request was sent, the State Department would “deal with it,” but did not provide further details.
“I have to proceed with extreme caution in terms of how I talk about [Bolsonaro’s case] because of the legal issues and the precedent issues involved,” Sullivan said.
The State Department declined a request for comment on Bolsonaro’s visa status.
Congressman Castro told Newsweek he planned to reach out Monday to the administration as well as to the Brazilian authorities, a move that could put more pressure on Biden to act. He acknowledged that Brazil has not charged its former leader, but said he still believed expulsion was the right move for the United States.
“I think there is a good chance the Brazilians will pursue charges against him,” Castro said. “The U.S. should not be his refuge.”