U.S. immigration agents arrested Alexandre Ramagem, a top ally of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The fugitive former spy chief would seem like a perfect target for deportation by the anti-immigrant Trump administration, which has repeatedly claimed to be focused on removing criminals — were it not for President Donald Trump and his allies’ vocal support for Bolsonaro.
Ramagem served as Brazil’s spy chief under Bolsonaro and has been a fugitive since 2024, when he was convicted alongside Bolsonaro and other officials for their role in an attempted coup. The Associated Press reported on Monday that Ramagem was listed in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s online detainee database, but that his precise location was unspecified.
Ramagem was shown in court to have “used spy software to track the geolocation of supreme court justices, lawmakers, journalists and public officials,” according to The Guardian. He is among multiple former Bolsonaro associates who fled to the U.S. after his conviction.
Brazil has been seeking the help of the pro-Bolsonaro Trump administration in extraditing Ramagem to his home country. After news of the arrest broke, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on the U.S. to return Ramagem so he can begin serving his 16-year prison sentence.
Trump has used various means, including tariffs, to try to punish Brazil’s government for holding his friend Bolsonaro accountable. Last year, Trump hit Brazil with a 50% tariff (that is, a tax paid by Americans purchasing Brazilian imports) that he explicitly said was a response to “the way Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro,” which he called an “international disgrace.”
Needless to say, there’s no guarantee the administration will agree to send the Bolsonaro ally back to Brazil after his involvement in a coup similar to the insurrection Trump helped to fuel on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.