Brazil Cancels Flavio Bolsonaro's Passports as Reports Say He Has Left for the United States

Update: Bolsonaro lands in Miami, ending two days of speculation about his whereabouts

Updated 14:52 UTC, Oct. 28, 2026. Flavio Bolsonaro and his family arrived in Miami on Wednesday, ending speculation about his whereabouts since he left Brazil. Reuters TV images showed Bolsonaro, his wife and his two daughters disembarking from a Gulfstream G400 aircraft and heading into Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, Reuters reported from Miami. The Associated Press reported that the plane landed in Miami at around 9:30 a.m. local time, after flight tracking site FlightRadar24 showed it landing in Guayaquil, Ecuador, at about 4 a.m. local time and then taking off again minutes later for Miami. The family was photographed exiting the airplane at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, USA Today reported.

President Donald Trump said early on Wednesday that he would approve of Bolsonaro coming to the United States, calling him and his family "fine people," the Associated Press reported. "The election was really strange, and I thought it was terrible," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after returning from campaigning in Texas on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported. He stressed that he did not endorse the election results. Paulo Figueiredo, a close Bolsonaro ally who lives in the United States, said Bolsonaro is well, in security and resting with his family, and that a press conference would be held on Thursday in Miami to discuss the case, the Associated Press reported.

The arrival confirms the route that Argentina's migration authority described earlier on Wednesday, set out in the update below: the family crossed from Brazil into Argentina late on Tuesday, flew to Guayaquil, and then flew on to Miami. United States officials had said they would grant entry visas to Bolsonaro and his family, Reuters reported. Bolsonaro lost Sunday's presidential runoff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, refused to comply with a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports, and denies wrongdoing in the money laundering investigation that prompted the order.

Update: Argentina says Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina and flew toward Ecuador

Updated 11:41 UTC, Oct. 28, 2026. Argentina's National Directorate of Migration said on Wednesday that Flavio Bolsonaro crossed into Argentina at 10:50 p.m. local time on Tuesday through the Tancredo Neves International Bridge in Misiones province, travelling with his wife Fernanda and his daughters Carolina and Luiza, and that the family presented valid travel documents with no legal impediment to entry. The directorate said that at 11:30 p.m. the family boarded a private flight operated by Baires Fly bound for Guayaquil, Ecuador, according to the filed flight plan. The Wall Street Journal reported that flight tracking data showed the aircraft took off from Puerto Iguazu shortly after midnight and, after a short stop, later took off again headed for Miami. The account from Argentine authorities is the first official confirmation of Bolsonaro's route since he left Brazil, and it replaces earlier reports, based on a source close to the family, that he had landed in Florida. United States officials have said visas will be issued to Bolsonaro and his family but have not confirmed his whereabouts.

Update: United States says it will issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family

Updated 23:10 UTC, Oct. 27, 2026. The United States will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the United States, a senior State Department official said, in comments reported by Reuters, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. "The State Department will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States," the official said. Bolsonaro left Brazil with his wife and two daughters after refusing to surrender his passports, Reuters reported, and one source close to the family told Reuters he had landed in Florida, without saying where. United States officials did not confirm his whereabouts as of Tuesday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, speaking at an event in Brasilia, said he regretted the departure. "I regret that he fled Brazil, because he could have stayed here and proved that the accusations are not true," Lula said, according to The Times. An ally, congressman Mauricio Marcon, told Brazilian media that Bolsonaro would "lead the opposition from abroad," The Times reported. Bolsonaro has not been charged, he denies wrongdoing, and he has yet to concede Sunday's election.

Brazil canceled Senator Flavio Bolsonaro's passports on Tuesday, and Reuters and CNN reported that he had left Brazil for the United States after losing Sunday's presidential runoff. An ally told Reuters that he had left, confirming a previous media report. Two sources confirmed to CNN independently that he had left Brazil and was headed to the United States, and a United States official told CNN that he was currently flying to Florida. CNN said it is unclear how he left Brazil.

Bolsonaro, his lawyer, the United States Embassy and the Federal Police have not confirmed the reports on the record. His brother Eduardo on Tuesday called rumors that Flavio had fled a lie.

Passports canceled after the deadline lapsed

Two sources from the federal police told Reuters that Brazil canceled Bolsonaro's passports on Tuesday after he failed to comply with a Supreme Court order to turn them in. The police were trying to locate the former presidential candidate.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him on Monday to turn in his passports within 24 hours, in a money laundering probe in which he denies wrongdoing. The sources said the deadline lapsed, which led to the cancellation.

Bolsonaro said Brazilian police had informed him of the order in person and told him he was banned from leaving Brazil. In a video posted to Instagram, the senator denied that he intended to flee.

A source close to Bolsonaro told CNN he had feared arrest in Brazil, where the country's highest court is investigating him for alleged corruption, money laundering and currency evasion. CNN reported that he denies all wrongdoing.

The route is not confirmed

Speculation about his movements mounted after Argentine news outlet Infobae reported that Bolsonaro had left Brazil via Argentina after losing Sunday's runoff. Argentina said it had no record of Bolsonaro entering its territory. Argentine authorities checked a private plane at Iguazu International Airport, on the border with Brazil, after reports linked it to the case, and found no flight plan listing the Bolsonaro family. A spokesperson for President Javier Milei told Reuters: "There is no asylum request."

A senior Brazilian Federal Police official said Bolsonaro has not exited the country via any regular migration point. Brazilians only need an ID card, rather than a passport, to enter neighboring Argentina.

Defeat and a family history

Bolsonaro was favored to win Sunday's presidential election but lost in a shock result to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He has yet to officially concede defeat. On Sunday he said he would seek the annulment of the result over alleged voter irregularities, but his Liberal Party said on Monday that it acknowledged Lula's victory.

Shortly before the runoff, Eduardo Bolsonaro had suggested that Flavio ought to leave Brazil if his bid for the presidency failed. Eduardo, who lives in the United States, told podcaster Steven Crowder this month: "If my brother does not win, I'm in favour of him leaving the country," according to Reuters. His father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, also went to the United States after refusing to concede losing to Lula in 2022. He eventually returned to Brazil but was later given a 27 year sentence for plotting a coup.

CNN said it had reached out to Bolsonaro, his political party and the Brazilian Federal Police for comment. The United States Embassy in Brazil did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Bolsonaro's lawyer declined to comment.