Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, pictured right here at a Nov. 1 press convention, has been staying in Orlando, Fla., as his dwelling nation investigates his supporters’ assault on authorities buildings.

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

Brazil’s ex-president, Jair Bolsonaro, pictured right here at a Nov. 1 press convention, has been staying in Orlando, Fla., as his dwelling nation investigates his supporters’ assault on authorities buildings.

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has utilized for a six-month visa to stay within the U.S. as his dwelling nation continues to research whether or not he is partially accountable for an attack on Brasilia’s capital buildings last month.

Bolsonaro left Brazil for Florida on Dec. 30, two days earlier than the inauguration of his rival, the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and per week earlier than his supporters rioted in Brasilia, claiming with out proof that Bolsonaro’s reelection loss had been rigged.

Analysts say Bolsonaro most certainly entered the U.S. on a particular A-1 visa reserved for heads of state. Such a visa would have expired by default on Tuesday, 30 days after his presidential time period ended.

AG Immigration Group, a California-based agency recognized for its work with Brazilians, confirmed to NPR that it is representing Bolsonaro as an immigration shopper, and that the previous president is looking for a six-month visa.

Bolsonaro is more likely to stay within the nation whereas his declare is being processed, which could take months.

Brazil’s Supreme Court is investigating the election fraud riots

Damage to the Brazilian National Congress following a riot the day before today led by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Jan. 9 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

Damage to the Brazilian National Congress following a riot the day before today led by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on Jan. 9 in Brasilia, Brazil.

Andressa Anholete/Getty Images

Bolsonaro misplaced all authorized immunity as a politician when his time period ended on Jan. 1.

Two weeks later, on Jan. 13, Brazil’s Supreme Court launched an official probe into Bolsonaro’s doable “instigation and intellectual authorship of the anti-democratic acts that results in vandalism and violence in Brasilia,” according to a public prosecutor’s statement reported by Reuters.

Bolsonaro has evenly condemned his supporters’ actions, saying that invasions of public buildings were not the same as peaceful protests. He’s additionally mentioned he bears no accountability for what transpired.

But for months, Bolsonaro refused to concede election defeat and continued to stoke beliefs that Brazil’s digital voting system was susceptible to fraud, whilst mounting terrorism threats left the nation on edge.

The investigation into the capital assaults is simply the newest into Bolsonaro’s conduct. Allegations levied in opposition to the previous president in at least four different investigations span from utilizing the federal police to guard his sons to harboring a disinformation troll farm inside his personal workplace.

Biden is underneath stress from Democrats to ship Bolsonaro dwelling

Supporters of Bolsonaro pray for his well being exterior his rental home on the Encore Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., on Jan. 12.

Chandan Khanna/AFP by way of Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

Chandan Khanna/AFP by way of Getty Images

Supporters of Bolsonaro pray for his well being exterior his rental home on the Encore Resort in Kissimmee, Fla., on Jan. 12.

Chandan Khanna/AFP by way of Getty Images

Living the U.S. has saved him just a few steps forward of authorized peril.

For a month, he is been residing in a Florida dwelling owned by a Brazilian combined martial arts fighter in a gated Orlando neighborhood not removed from Disney World.

Reports and snapshots shared on social media present he is residing very similar to a neighborhood, wandering round supermarkets, chowing down on Kentucky Fried Chicken and checking into the hospital for an outdated stab wound.

But he is nonetheless a person of worldwide curiosity. Twice a day he ventures outside his residence to greet the crowds who collect throughout the road, typically draped in Brazilian flags and talking Portuguese.

Bolsonaro’s retreat has sparked questions from U.S. lawmakers. Over 40 House Democrats signed a letter to President Biden earlier this month, saying the U.S. “must not provide shelter” for Bolsonaro, particularly given his ideological connections to the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

“Two years ago, the United States faced a similar assault on our democracy,” the letter reads. “We know firsthand the impact—both immediate and long-term—when government officials subvert democratic norms, spread misinformation, and foment violent extremism.”

Bolsonaro’s son says there are not any agency plans for the ex-president to return

The U.S. State Department didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s newest request for details about Bolsonaro’s visa standing and has denied earlier requests.

The U.S. does not want a authorized justification to revoke or deny a foreigner’s visa.

John Feeley, who served as ambassador to Panama throughout a presidential extradition case, told NPR earlier this month that “there’s nothing that prevents Biden from saying to Bolsonaro, ‘You have to be out in 24 hours.'”

A choice to maintain Bolsonaro within the U.S. would possibly come right down to security, Feeley mentioned. Sending Bolsonaro dwelling on the unsuitable time may spark extra violence amongst his supporters.

Bolsonaro’s son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who can also be a sitting senator, informed native reporters on Saturday that his father hadn’t made agency plans to return dwelling, according to several reporters who were present.

“It could be tomorrow, it could be six months from now, he could never come back,” he mentioned. “He has no fear at all because he bears no responsibility for what happened in Brazil.”