Authorities from the United States Immigration and Customs Control Service, known by its acronym in English as ICE, told the Federal Police (PF) this Thursday that there was an “administrative decision” in the case of former deputy Alexandre Ramagem, according to interlocutors from the corporation. In the conversation, the American agency communicated the reason why the Bolsonarist was released two days after being detained in Florida. Also according to members of the PF, ICE reported that Ramagem has the right to provisional stay in the country.
The meeting between PF and ICE took place on Thursday afternoon and ended around 4pm. Still according to PF interlocutors, the corporation regretted the review of the case and expressed that the rule has not applied to everyone.
Ramagem has been in the United States since September last year. Initially, the expectation of Brazilian authorities was that the former parliamentarian would be deported and could serve his sentence on national soil.
He is considered a fugitive in Brazil and left the country in September last year, shortly before being sentenced by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to more than 16 years in prison for participating in the coup plot.
Throughout the day on Wednesday, when Ramagem was already with his family, politicians close to him began to attribute the outcome to President Donald Trump’s administration. The parliamentarian’s name was removed from the US immigration service’s list.
The record of Ramagem’s arrest was included, on Monday itself, in the Orange County system, with a photo (the “mugshot”) and indication of custody for immigration reasons, without detailed local criminal charges.
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This Thursday, in a video published on social media, Ramagem said that he was detained for an “immigration issue”.
Former head of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), he also stated that he studied and fulfilled the requirements for an asylum request, which is still being analyzed by the American government.
— I was detained for an immigration issue, nothing related to transit. Now, it turns out that I entered the United States in September of last year in a perfectly regular manner, with a valid passport, valid visa, without any convictions. Then, we filed an asylum request — said Ramagem.
