Paulo Figueiredo denies the influence of the Brazilian government in Ramagem’s detention

The Federal Police (PF), however, brings a different version. According to the general director, Andrei Rodrigues, “the arrest is the result of Brazil-United States international cooperation in the fight against organized crime. Ramagem is a fugitive from Brazilian justice and, according to North American authorities, is in an irregular migration situation.”

Figueiredo says that the arrest occurred after a traffic stop for a minor infraction in Orlando, Florida. As a result, it was found that the passport of the former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) was expired, which would have led to the referral.

The journalist still remembers the political asylum request being processed, which would lead, at the very least, to a delay in a possible deportation or extradition. In the case of extradition, there is a requirement that the crimes be equivalent in both countries. This was what motivated, for example, the defense appeal of former federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL) to the Supreme Court of Cassation, in Italy. They claim that there is no crime of hacking a computer device in the European country.

See Paulo Figueiredo’s version in full

“Ramagem was not arrested, but detained after a police stop in Orlando, initially for a minor traffic violation and, subsequently, sent to ICE – a common procedure in Florida.

This is, at this moment, a purely immigration issue. However, Ramagem’s status is legal: he has a pending asylum request, filed a long time ago and still under analysis, which allows him to remain legally in the United States until the final decision in the case – which is time-consuming, but has everything to be granted.

Immigrex, a company of which I am a partner, is providing full assistance to Ramagem and his family. Our expectation is that he will be released as quickly as possible and, at this time, we do not see any risk of deportation. The ICE process is also bureaucratic and depends on formalization in the agency’s system so that the next steps can be taken in this direction.

Extradition and deportation have absolutely nothing to do with each other: extradition is a political-diplomatic process between States, conducted by the State Department; Deportation is an internal administrative immigration procedure. The case in question is exclusively migratory.

To make it absolutely clear: The Brazilian government had no role in this episode. This is a standard American immigration procedure. This has absolutely nothing to do with Brazil’s extradition request, which is still being analyzed by the State Department.”