MIAMI — Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami on Wednesday morning, ending two days of uncertainty about his whereabouts after he left Brazil in defiance of a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports.
Bolsonaro and members of his family were photographed exiting an airplane at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Miami-Dade County, and Reuters TV images showed his arrival in Miami. The U.S. State Department had said on Tuesday that it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family.
Argentina’s migration department said Bolsonaro entered Argentina with his wife and two daughters late on Tuesday evening, crossing from Brazil at 10:50 p.m. local time via the Tancredo Neves International Bridge. The family then boarded a private flight bound for the Ecuadorean city of Guayaquil, according to the department’s flight plan.
Reuters reported that a Gulfstream G400 operated by Baires Fly departed Puerto Iguazu at 12:22 a.m. and landed in Guayaquil at 3:46 a.m., before departing for Miami’s Opa-locka Executive Airport, where it was scheduled to land at 9:18 a.m. local time. It was unclear how Bolsonaro entered Ecuador, Reuters reported.
Bolsonaro lost Sunday’s presidential runoff to leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and has refused to concede, threatening to seek annulment of the result. He is under investigation in Brazil over alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, and denies wrongdoing.
Brazil’s Supreme Court had ordered him to hand over his regular and diplomatic passports by noon on Tuesday. Two sources told Reuters he missed that deadline and the documents have since been cancelled. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said no police operation had been carried out and no search and seizure warrant had been issued targeting Bolsonaro, denying a report by news outlet G1 that federal police had served a warrant at his house in Brasilia.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he approved of Bolsonaro coming to the United States. “Well, I would approve,” Trump told reporters, adding: “The election was very strange, and I thought it was terrible.”
Bolsonaro’s father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also fled to Florida after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula, before returning to Brazil three months later. Flávio Bolsonaro’s younger brother Eduardo has lived in Texas since 2025.
Update: Zark News reported on Wednesday morning that Bolsonaro had left Brazil and that Trump said he would approve his entry. This story updates that report with his arrival in Miami, the route he took, and the Supreme Court’s statement on the reported warrant.
Sources: Reuters; Associated Press; USA Today.
