Brazil ex-intelligence chief Alexandre Ramagem arrested by ICE, senator says

The case centered on Ramagem, the former head of Brazil’s intelligence agency, after Seif said ICE arrested him in the United States and that he is seeking political asylum. Seif said he had told the U.S. embassy in Brasilia that Ramagem should not remain in detention and described the U.S. custody situation as part of political persecution. Ramagem’s status in U.S. detention remained unclear beyond an ICE detainee listing, while ICE and Ramagem’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Seif, who is a Brazilian senator, said in social media posts that he had informed the U.S. embassy in Brasilia that Ramagem should be granted asylum and should not stay in custody. Seif did not say why Ramagem had been placed under custody, nor did he provide further detail about the circumstances of his arrival or detention in the United States.

According to Seif, Ramagem appeared as being held in ICE’s online detainee database on Monday. The AP reported that the database listing did not specify where Ramagem was being held.

In a separate statement earlier on Monday, Brazil’s federal police said a “fugitive of the country’s justice was arrested” in Orlando, without naming Ramagem. The federal police also said the unnamed fugitive had recently been sentenced by Brazil’s top court on the same three counts as Ramagem’s conviction.

Ramagem was sentenced in September to 16 years in prison for his role in the 2023 coup attempt by supporters of then-President Jair Bolsonaro. Brazil’s federal police said he fled the country before he would have started serving his sentence. Ramagem was also stripped of his seat in Brazil’s congress in December, as a consequence of his conviction in the coup case a month earlier.

Seif’s statements tied the U.S. detention to the broader legal and political conflict around the coup prosecution. “The political persecution against President Bolsonaro, his sons and his allies is now hitting an elected lawmaker in foreign soil,” Seif said. Seif also said, “In our document (to the U.S. embassy) we showed all the reasons that justify and defend the concession of political asylum to Ramagem and his family.”