Bolsonaro Parole: Rubio Says Trump Made the Call

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Flávio Bolsonaro got into the United States because President Trump decided to let him in, the first on-the-record account of how the defeated Brazilian presidential candidate crossed the border in Miami. The statement, made to reporters in Atlanta on Oct. 31, puts a name on the decision behind the Bolsonaro parole that earlier news reports described, and Trump added the same day that Bolsonaro “can stay here as long as he wants.” Immigration law gives that promise less room than it suggests.

“We didn’t facilitate anything,” Rubio said, according to the Associated Press. “We had word that he had arrived in the United States. He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country.” He said the U.S. government was not “involved directly in any of the moves that were made.” Trump, speaking in Florida, said: “I think he got treated very shabbily, very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants,” Al Jazeera reported, drawing on AFP and AP.

Bolsonaro, a Brazilian senator, lost the Oct. 25 runoff to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and arrived in Miami with his family on Oct. 28 after traveling through Argentina and Ecuador, AP and AFP reported. He is under investigation in Brazil for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion and had been ordered to surrender his passport, according to AP. Al Jazeera, citing Reuters, reported that he was admitted under humanitarian parole, which typically lasts one year. AFP reported that The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal said the plane was chartered by Trump adviser Jason Miller; the White House has not commented on the flight. Earlier coverage of the family’s entry laid out the conflicting accounts of who was paroled and who was promised visas.

The visa point is narrower than it sounds. A visa, even a valid one, only lets a traveler ask for admission at a port of entry, and a nonimmigrant generally must also present a valid passport. Rubio’s phrasing, a prior visa plus a presidential decision, fits parole better than an ordinary visa admission. Parole under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act is the tool for letting someone in “for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit” when the normal entry rules do not fit, and the statute says it “shall not be regarded as an admission.” Formally, that power sits with the Homeland Security secretary, so a White House decision is carried out through DHS and its border officers. No DHS statement on the terms has been reported.

What “as long as he wants” runs into

Parole has an end date. Under 8 C.F.R. 212.5, it ends when the authorized period runs out or earlier on written notice, and DHS can grant a new period. That makes the length of Bolsonaro’s stay a renewable executive choice rather than a right, which is the same feature that let the administration end parole for others. DHS’s March 2025 Federal Register notice ending the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans said those programs had brought in about 532,000 people, and USCIS now counts terminated parole among its enforcement actions. People who lost CBP One parole have seen how quickly that discretion can run the other way.

Parole alone also leads nowhere permanent. A parolee cannot change to a nonimmigrant status, because that requires a lawful admission in the first place. Parole does meet the “inspected and admitted or paroled” threshold for a green card under INA 245(a), but only with an independent basis such as a family or employment petition, and none has been reported. The other route is asylum, which generally must be filed within one year of arrival and would be decided by an asylum officer or immigration judge, not the White House. Bolsonaro has said he left Brazil because of “persecution,” according to AP, but no filing has been reported, and re-parole paperwork is the more likely near-term step.

The sharpest open question is extradition. No Brazilian request has been reported. If one comes, a federal judge would first decide whether the evidence supports extradition under 18 U.S.C. 3184, and the final decision to surrender him would rest with the secretary of state under 18 U.S.C. 3186. That would put the call back in Rubio’s hands, alongside a president who has already said Bolsonaro is welcome to stay.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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