Departure followed passport cancellation
Reuters TV footage showed Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters stepping off a private jet at Miami-Opa Locka airport and walking toward the terminal. The US government had indicated that it would grant the family entry visas.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had barred Bolsonaro from leaving Brazil on Monday and ordered him to surrender his passports within 24 hours as part of a money-laundering investigation. After he failed to meet that deadline, federal police canceled his regular and diplomatic passports on Tuesday. Bolsonaro denies the allegations.
Argentina's migration authority said the family entered the country by land at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, crossing the Tancredo Neves International Bridge near Iguazú Falls. Traveling with Bolsonaro were his wife, Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and daughters Carolina and Luiza.
At 11:30 p.m., the four boarded a Baires Fly S.A. private charter flight bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador, before continuing to Miami. Bolsonaro's allies said late Tuesday that he also held an Italian passport, citing another travel document after his Brazilian passports were canceled.
Election dispute and US response
President Donald Trump endorsed Bolsonaro's arrival in the United States early Wednesday, describing him and his family as "fine people." He also challenged the outcome of Sunday's Brazilian election without offering evidence, telling reporters, "The election was really strange, and I thought it was terrible,"
Lula accused Washington of working with the Bolsonaro family to return it to power and described Bolsonaro's escape as shameful.
Bolsonaro's right-wing Liberal Party, known as the PL, acknowledged Lula's victory while calling for answers to outstanding questions about the election process. The party did not support Bolsonaro's initial demand to annul the entire election. Bolsonaro changed his approach on Monday, instead seeking a legal examination of Lula's campaign conduct.
The Washington Post reported that a new investigation is examining alleged ties between Bolsonaro's presidential campaign and Rockbridge, a donor network co-founded by US Vice President JD Vance. Brazilian politics prohibits foreign donations.
Investigations and the end of Senate protections
The money-laundering case involves companies and online sports betting. Federal police say they have indications connecting Bolsonaro to a bank account held by a company owned by lawyer Willer Tomaz, who is also accused in the case.
Bolsonaro faces other investigations as well. The Supreme Court is examining whether he used a sports betting company to launder money fraudulently deducted from government pensions for older people. In another case, he is accused of receiving millions of dollars from a disgraced banker. Investigators are also looking into possible corruption and money laundering in the financing of "Dark Horse," a film about his father.
The 45-year-old senator's eight-year term ends on January 31, 2027. At that point, he will lose both his parliamentary protection from arrest and the right to have his cases heard under the Supreme Court's special jurisdiction.
His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also fled to Florida after losing to Lula in 2022, returning to Brazil three months later. He is now serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for attempting a coup following that defeat.
