United States President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure to send back former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro amid a violent uprising in the latter's country where his supporters are protesting the result of the latest election.
Bolsonaro was reported to have flown to Florida two days before the end of his term as president on January 1, 2023. The situation came as he continued to challenge the results of the October 30 run-off election that saw his loss to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Jair Bolsonaro in Florida
On Sunday, Bolsonaro's supporters erupted into protest and violently clashed with law enforcement in denial of the election. The demonstrators stormed Brazil's presidential palace, Congress, and Supreme Court.
The requests for Biden to send back Bolsonaro came as Americans watched supporters of former US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol two years ago in a similar fashion. On Monday, the White House said that it has yet to receive any requests from the Brazilian government regarding Bolsonaro's status.
However, the presence of the former Brazilian president on US soil has placed Biden in a corner, with only a handful of good options. If the Democrat lets Bolsonaro stay, he is inviting criticism that the US is harboring a man accused of fomenting anti-democratic violence, as per Yahoo News.
On the other hand, if Biden chooses to expel Bolsonaro from the country, with the latter coming from an allied country and traveling in good faith, results in doubts about due process. In a statement on Sunday, Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat in Congress, said that Bolsonaro had no business being in Florida.
The lawmaker added that the US should not be a refuge for who he called an "authoritarian" who has allegedly inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. Castro immediately called for the quick expulsion of Bolsonaro back to Brazil.
Another Democrat in the US House of Representatives, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, echoed similar views as Castro. She said that the US must cease granting refuge to the former Brazilian president in Florida.
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Brazil in Chaos
According to Politico, the Biden administration also condemned the recent attacks of Bolsonaro's supporters on Brazil's government agencies. In a Twitter post on Sunday evening, the Democratic leader said that Brazil's democratic institutions have the US government's full support.
The United States national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also tweeted that Biden was closely following the situation in Brazil. He added that Brazilian democracy will not be shaken by violence.
The situation comes as Biden has had a shaky relationship with Bolsonaro, which was already on the weaker side following the latter losing broad protections from prosecution when his term ended as president.
The former US ambassador to Panama from late 2015 to 2018, John Feeley, said that the most immediate threat to the former Brazilian president would come if his US visa were revoked. He added that the US may remove a foreigner, even someone who entered legally on a visa, for any reason, Reuters reported.
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