Twenty-five House Democrats have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to account for how Flávio Bolsonaro, the Brazilian senator who lost last month's presidential run-off, obtained United States visas for himself and his family within days of a Brazilian Supreme Court order instructing him to hand over his passports.
The letter is dated October 29, 2026, and was released by the office of Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, of California, on October 30. She led it together with Rep. Dina Titus, of Nevada. Other signers include Reps. Joaquin Castro, Greg Casar, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib and James McGovern. Several sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
It is a letter of inquiry rather than a subpoena, and it asks for written answers and a staff briefing by November 13.
What the lawmakers want to know
The letter puts a numbered set of questions to the department. It asks whether the State Department, the US Embassy in Brazil or any other American agency helped Bolsonaro travel to and enter the United States despite a Brazilian court restriction; when the department first learned of the passport order, and whether any official saw the decision before he left; what legal basis and visa categories were used, and whether any visa was approved, expedited or renewed during the election period.
It also asks whether American officials assisted with flights, travel documents or airport access, whether officials in Argentina or Ecuador helped coordinate his itinerary, and whether the department worked with the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection or the Justice Department.
The lawmakers write that they have a "legitimate oversight interest" in whether American resources were used to facilitate the trip. "Transparency is particularly important where the reported events implicate a foreign judicial proceeding," the letter says, and asks "whether U.S. diplomatic and immigration resources were used to facilitate the travel of a foreign political figure."
What the administration has said
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment on the letter, and no reply had been made public as of October 31. The White House referred questions about any American involvement to the State Department and to Customs and Border Protection.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, did not address the reports of official involvement directly. It said Bolsonaro arrived in South Florida with his family, was inspected by CBP under applicable immigration laws, and was released afterward.
A senior State Department official, speaking anonymously, had told CBS News that the family would receive visas. Trump, asked about the trip on Wednesday, October 28, said the authorization had been given and that he approved: "It would be OK with me," he said, describing the Bolsonaros as "fine people." Earlier in the week he had suggested, without evidence, that Brazil's election was "rigged."
How he got to Miami
Bolsonaro lost the October 25 run-off to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who took more than 64 million votes against fewer than 60 million — a margin of close to four percentage points. The Supreme Court order requiring him to surrender his regular and diplomatic passports was issued the same day under seal and served on him outside his father's home on October 26, with a deadline of noon on October 27.
He left Brazil that day with his wife and two daughters. Argentina's migration authority said the family crossed the Tancredo Neves International Bridge at 10:50 p.m. and boarded a private charter 40 minutes later with a flight plan filed for Guayaquil, Ecuador. A plane matching the description landed there around 4 a.m. and took off for Opa-locka Executive Airport, outside Miami, where he arrived on the morning of October 28. Argentina's presidential spokesman, Adrián Ravier, said there had been no asylum request in his country.
In a letter posted on X, Bolsonaro said he had moved to the United States "facing the political weaponization of Justice in Brazil" and insisted he "did not flee Brazil." He is the subject of two Supreme Court investigations in Brazil over alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion; his Senate term, and with it his right to be tried only by that court, expires on January 31, 2027. He was received by Trump in the Oval Office in May.
This is the second letter in a month from Kamlager-Dove on American policy toward Brazil: on October 7, she and Rep. Gregory Meeks, with ten other lawmakers, questioned the revocation of the Brazilian ambassador's diplomatic visa.
Reporting from The Hill, The Rio Times, CBS News and Fortune, which cited the Associated Press.
