U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Brazilian lawmaker Alexandre Ramagem on a public street in Orlando, Florida, according to reports from Brazilian media.
Ramagem, the former head of Brazil's Intelligence Agency (Abin), is currently a fugitive from the Brazilian justice system. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison by the Federal Supreme Court for his role in the 2022 attempted coup led by former President Jair Bolsonaro.
While the Brazilian government has formally requested his extradition, ICE officials detained the lawmaker over his immigration status rather than the criminal charges filed in Brazil.
Fugitive status and political asylum
Ramagem fled Brazil despite a court-ordered travel ban. The Brazilian judiciary found him guilty of criminal organization, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and attempted coup d'état.
Prosecutors allege Ramagem used the resources of the intelligence agency to facilitate the coup attempt against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Before his arrest, Ramagem claimed he felt "safe" in the United States. In statements made in late November, he suggested he had the "consent" of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"It is logical that I did not stay in Brazil, with my daughters seeing me arrested without having committed any crime and suffering a dictatorship," Ramagem said regarding his flight from Brazil.
Allies of the lawmaker indicated he intended to seek political asylum in the United States.
His escape follows a string of departures by other high-profile Brazilian figures. Lawmaker Carla Zambelli was recently arrested in Rome and awaits extradition, while Eduardo Bolsonaro has also faced legal scrutiny following campaigns against Brazil's Supreme Court justices.
