Jan. 13 (UPI) -- House Democrats have called on President Joe Biden to revoke the visa of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after his supporters stormed government buildings in the capital of Brasilia.
A group of 41 Democrats, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, sent a letter to the administration, urging full cooperation with Brazilian authorities investigating last Sunday's riots which they compared to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots by supporters of former President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol.
"We must not allow Mr. Bolsonaro or any other former Brazilian officials to take refuge in the United States to escape justice for any crimes they may have committed when in office, and we should cooperate fully with any investigation by the Brazilian government into their actions, if requested," the lawmakers wrote.
Bolsonaro traveled to Florida shortly before the inauguration of his successor, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and claimed on social media that he was undergoing a medical procedure connected with a 2018 stabbing. He has since been discharged from an unidentified hospital in Orlando.
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The lawmakers, who said they were "concerned" by the reports that Bolsonaro was currently residing in Orlando, acknowledged that he may have traveled to the United States on an A-1 visa reserved for diplomatic or official visits while still president of Brazil, but asked the administration to reconsider his status following the election loss.
"As he is no longer the president of Brazil or currently serving as a Brazilian official, we request that you reassess his status in the country to ascertain whether there is a legal basis for his stay and revoke any such diplomatic visa he must hold," they wrote.
Brazil's leading public officials, including Lula, are blaming Bolsonaro for inciting the riots, which erupted Sunday after the far-right leader continued to claim he lost the October election due to voter fraud.
Castro urged the Biden administration to kick Bolsonaro out of the country and send him back to Brazil on Sunday, shortly after the riots took place.
"Bolsonaro should not be in Florida," Castro told CNN. "The United States should not be a refuge for this authoritarian, who has inspired domestic terrorism in Brazil. He should be sent back to Brazil."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Congressional delegation -- led by Castro, Gregory Meeks, of New York, Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, Jesús García, of Illinois, and Susan Wild, of Pennsylvania -- demanded an investigation into any executive actions taken by Bolsonaro while on U.S. soil, which may have aided this week's uprising.
So far Biden has not publicly responded to the request, although White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a press briefing on Monday that he could not "speak definitively" about Bolsonaro's whereabouts as he did not believe the Biden administration was in "direct contact" with the former president and had not received a request for his extradition.
"We have not, as of now, received any official request from the Brazilian government related to Bolsonaro," he said. "Of course, if we did receive such requests we'd treat them the way we always do: We'd treat them seriously."
The Brazilian government has designated the riots as "terrorist acts" and arrested more than 1,500 who remain in custody.
Demonstrations have also sprang up in support of Lula in several regions of the country, with large crowds taking to the streets in Sao Paulo and elsewhere, chanting "no amnesty" in support of keeping the rioters in jail.
The Brazilian military has ramped up guard patrols and security measures in the event of more violence in the capital.
Arrest warrants have been issued for at least two former security officials who served in Bolsonaro's administration and are now accused of conspiracy. They include Col. Fabio Augusto Vieira, who was recently fired as head of the military police, and Anderson Torres, the former chief of the capital police force and one of Bolsonaro's closest confidants who previously served as the country's justice minister.
