Is Bolsonaro in Florida on an Expired Visa?

The storming of Brazil’s congress yesterday has created a tricky diplomatic situation for the Biden administration: Former president Jair Bolsonaro might be residing in the U.S. on an expired visa usually authorized only for serving foreign government officials, as Brazilian officials investigate his conduct in office and now, potentially, the role that he might have played in making yesterday’s riots possible.

Between investigations in Brazil and calls by Democratic lawmakers for his expulsion from the country, top U.S. officials have proceeded with caution — “extreme caution,” as national-security adviser Jake Sullivan put it in comments to reporters today, “because of the legal issues and the precedent issues involved.” Sullivan added that he’d defer to his colleagues at Foggy Bottom and that the Brazilian government has not yet made any requests — for the former president’s extradition or otherwise — of Washington.

The legal issues to which Sullivan referred, of course, stem from the former Brazilian leader’s self-imposed exile in the U.S.

Bolsonaro reportedly arrived in Florida on December 30 — his second-to-last day as president — as he snubbed the January 1 inauguration of his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In the days since his arrival, the former president has been sighted on the streets of a suburban neighborhood, at a grocery store, and even chowing down on a box of fried chicken at KFC. Reports said he was lying low at the Orlando home of UFC fighter Jose Aldo Jr. — but according to Brazil’s Globo newspaper, he was admitted to a hospital in the city today after experiencing abdominal pain.

While Bolsonaro disavowed the uprising yesterday on Twitter, the incident followed his repeated comments disputing his election loss last year. And the chaos in Brasilia seems likely to complicate his post-presidency U.S. vacation because it calls attention to the possibility that he’s not here legally, putting him on shakier ground if Brazilian officials want to force his return for prosecution.

Bolsonaro likely came to the U.S. on an A-1 visa, which probably expired after he officially left office on January 1, a former State Department official who worked on some high-level visa-related issues told National Review. That’s also what a U.S. consular official and a former senior U.S. diplomat told Reuters, with the latter, by contrast, speculating that Bolsonaro’s possible A-1 remained active after Lula’s inauguration.

It is entirely plausible that Bolsonaro’s potential A-1 visa has expired. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters during a briefing today that, generally speaking, “If an A visa holder is no longer engaged in official business on behalf of their government, it is incumbent on that visa holder to depart the U.S. or to request a change to another immigration status within 30 days.” Absent approval for another visa, Price said, such a person “is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security.” Price strenuously declined to speak specifically about Bolsonaro’s case.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has remained mum, and National Review’s request for comment about Bolsonaro’s immigration status today went unanswered.

PHOTOS: Bolsonaro Supporters Protest in Brazil

By contrast, Democrats in Congress are demanding immediate action. Sharing a video of the riot in Brasilia yesterday on Twitter, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the “fascist” attack on the country’s government institutions, adding, “The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida.” Representative Joaquin Castro, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a statement along similar lines: “Domestic terrorists and fascists cannot be allowed to use Trump’s playbook to undermine democracy,” he wrote.

For now, State is letting Brazilian prosecutors make the first move — and, Price said, is prepared to deal with requests for information or action from Brazil.

Such requests could come to fruition sooner rather than later. Brazil’s Supreme Court had already initiated four probes into Bolsonaro’s conduct before the October election, according to Reuters, and other avenues of investigation could soon open as other Brazilian government offices take stock of the situation.