The defeated Brazilian candidate defied a court order to surrender his passports and flew to Florida on a U.S. visa
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would approve of Flávio Bolsonaro coming to the United States, hours before the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate landed in Miami after defying a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports.
Bolsonaro, his wife and two daughters arrived at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Oct. 28, a day after the State Department said it would issue the family visas, USA Today reported.
Trump Says US Gave Bolsonaro ‘a Pass’
“I think they’re fine people. The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible,” Trump told reporters early Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, according to USA Today.
He did not elaborate, but stressed that he did not endorse the election result, AP reported.
In separate remarks Wednesday, Trump confirmed that the United States had let Bolsonaro in. “Well, I’m not going to make a comment about that, but I know that we gave him a pass to come into the country, so we’ll see,” he told reporters, CNN reported.
A Trump adviser told CNN that administration officials knew on Monday that Bolsonaro had roughly 24 hours to surrender his passport, and made clear to him that he would be allowed into the country. Two U.S. officials told the network the visas were being issued.
A Secret Route Through Argentina and Ecuador
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro on Monday, Oct. 26, to hand over his passports within 24 hours. Brazil’s Federal Police had sought the seizure after identifying a risk that he would leave the country, CNN reported.
According to AP, the order covered his regular and diplomatic passports. Bolsonaro said he was served with it outside the home where his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, is under house arrest.
That day, the senator denied any plan to leave. “I have never thought about leaving the country,” he said, in remarks carried by NBC News from Reuters and AP.
On Tuesday night, he crossed into Argentina with his wife and daughters at 10:50 p.m., over the Tancredo Neves International Bridge, according to Argentina’s migration authority. At 11:30 p.m. the four boarded a private charter run by Baires Fly, bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador. From there they flew on to Miami.
“Those who did so possessed valid travel documentation and faced no legal impediments to entering the country,” the authority said in a post on X.
A Brazilian diplomat, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, said Bolsonaro used an Italian passport to enter Argentina.
Brazil’s Federal Police said “there is no official record of the congressman leaving through Brazilian immigration control points.”
What Flávio Bolsonaro Faces Back Home
The 45-year-old senator is under investigation by Brazil’s Supreme Court over alleged corruption and money laundering, along with tax evasion, according to AP. He denies wrongdoing.
One case accuses him of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions from pensions paid to senior citizens, AP reported. In another, he is accused of accepting millions of dollars from a disgraced banker.
No warrant had been issued for his arrest when he left. Legal analysts told CNN that defying the passport order could be reason enough for one. His immunity from prosecution ends with his Senate term, which AP said expires Jan. 31, 2027.
In a statement Wednesday, Bolsonaro said he would lead Brazil’s opposition from the United States, and that he had left to avoid being imprisoned and censored.
“It was not my intention to leave my homeland, but I know exactly where this will lead. This is the classic playbook for any coup d’état,” he said.
He alleged electoral fraud without providing proof, CNN reported, and thanked Trump for welcoming him. He compared himself to leaders who went into exile, among them Charles de Gaulle and María Corina Machado of Venezuela.
His route is almost certain to cause a rift between Lula and Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally who campaigned for Bolsonaro, AP reported. Milei’s spokesman said there was no asylum request.
Lula has accused Washington of colluding with the Bolsonaro family to return them to power.
A Familiar Path for the Bolsonaro Family
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro in the Oct. 25 runoff by about 4.4 million votes, AP reported, even though Bolsonaro had led the first round and was widely favored. USA Today reported that Lula took 51.79% of the vote.
Bolsonaro refused to concede and said he would seek to have the result annulled. His Liberal Party later said it recognized the outcome.
Trump questioned the vote as well. “It looked like another rigged election, frankly,” he said on Oct. 26.
The flight to Florida echoes his father’s. Jair Bolsonaro went to Florida after losing the 2022 election to Lula and came home three months later. He is now serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup.
In July 2025, Trump signed an order adding a 40% tariff on Brazil, bringing the total to 50%, according to a White House fact sheet. Issued under a national emergency, it was one of Trump’s emergency tariffs, and it cited what it called the “politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters.”
His younger brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, has lived in Texas since 2025. Shortly before the runoff, Eduardo suggested Flávio should leave Brazil if he lost, CNN reported. On Tuesday, Eduardo called rumors that his brother had fled a lie.
Flávio now joins a group of Brazilian conservatives living in the United States, including Eduardo, former intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem and podcaster Paulo Figueiredo, according to CNN.
Lula Calls the Departure ‘Shameful’
Lula, who turned 81 on Tuesday, spoke to supporters outside the presidential residence in Brasília.
“I regret that he left Brazil, because he could have stayed here and proven that the accusations are not true,” Lula said, according to AP. “This act of leaving Brazil is shameful.”
He added, in remarks USA Today attributed to Reuters: “When I was asked to surrender my passport, I did so. He should have done the same.”
“We had no news from Flávio or his lawyers about what happened,” campaign manager Rogério Marinho said, according to NBC News.
Paulo Figueiredo, a close Bolsonaro ally, said in a short statement that “Flávio Bolsonaro is well, in security and resting with his family.” He said a press conference would be held Thursday in Miami.
Featured image from: Agência Senado, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons