WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats added to pressure on President Joe Biden to kick Jair Bolsonaro out of the country, even as U.S. officials stick to a wait-and-see approach in hopes that the former Brazilian president will make good on a promise to return home on his own.
In a letter dated Thursday, 46 congressional Democrats urged Biden to remove Bolsonaro in light of the Jan. 8 attacks by his supporters on government buildings in Brasilia, the capital. They said the violence was “built upon months of pre- and post-election fabrications by Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies” about the October election that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva narrowly won.
“The United States must not provide shelter for him, or any authoritarian who has inspired such violence against democratic institutions,” the lawmakers wrote, calling on the U.S. to “cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government into their actions, if requested.”
The letter added to pressure on Biden to do something about Bolsonaro, who traveled to Florida days before Lula’s inauguration on what he said was a vacation. Bolsonaro was seen eating at a KFC and strolling through a Publix supermarket in Florida after he arrived on Dec. 30.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin joined the chorus Thursday evening, urging Biden to rescind authorization for Bolsonaro to remain in the country.
“The United States must not be a safe haven for those who seek to undermine free and fair democratic elections or the peaceful democratic transfer of power, particularly by inciting violence, regardless of the position of power they previously held,” Durbin wrote in his letter to the president.
A former Bolsonaro spokesperson, who remains a friend of his family, didn’t immediately reply to a message seeking more information on the former president’s intentions.
What was initially seen as a bizarre quirk of Brazilian post-election politics became much more serious after last Sunday’s riots by Bolsonaro supporters, and the Biden administration began to assess whether it ought to intervene in some way. That quandary appeared to take care of itself when Bolsonaro, who was briefly hospitalized near Orlando for abdominal pains, told CNN Brasil he would cut short his trip and return home.
But Bolsonaro still hasn’t gone back to Brazil, and the Biden administration is again facing questions about what to do — and whether trying to expel him out would touch off a messy legal battle. It’s believed Bolsonaro came to the U.S. on a diplomatic visa, given that he was still in office at the time of his arrival. The State Department, which wouldn’t comment on Bolsonaro’s specific case, says an individual has 30 days to depart the U.S. or change visa status after leaving government service.
Biden could have the authority to declare Bolsonaro persona non grata and order him out of the country. But that measure is generally used for a foreign diplomat, not a head of state, and it’s not clear if it applies in this case. If Bolsonaro believed he faced the risk of jail by returning home, he could seek asylum or challenge a move to extradite him in U.S. courts.
“This is very complicated and it has to do with international law, the U.S. law, the Vienna Conventions, international customary law and the Constitution,” said Denyse Sabagh, a partner at Duane Morris LLP who specializes in immigration and nationality law.
“You can see many different avenues where, depending on what the U.S. did, his lawyers would argue that he would be entitled to some relief here in the United States,” she said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken declined even to say Bolsonaro’s name when asked about his case at a briefing on Wednesday.
“We’re talking now about people who are private citizens,” Blinken said. “We’ve heard various public statements that have been made by those individuals about their plans, but we really don’t have anything to add.”
Blinken pointed out that Lula has called for an investigation into the riots but that the U.S. hadn’t received “any specific requests from Brazilian authorities” — indicating that so far Brazilian authorities hadn’t sought to extradite Bolsonaro.
“Of course, if and when we do, we’ll work expeditiously to respond, as we always do,” Blinken said.
Another question is whether Lula even wants Bolsonaro to return to Brazil.
Bolsonaro’s presence could “have a destabilizing impact on not only the country, but also on the ability for Lula to govern,” Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said in an interview.
Bolsonaro could use his supporters’ anger “to try to continue his relevance and his power in Brazil,” Marczak said. “I think he will try to make it increasingly politically problematic to levy charges against him.”
Although Bolsonaro criticized the riots, he also has continued to feed the disinformation that supporters who participated have embraced, sharing a video of voter fraud conspiracies on Facebook that was deleted hours later.
—With assistance from Daniel Carvalho.
