US investigates manipulation of its immigration base used by Brazilian Justice to imprison a former Bolsonaro advisor

The United States is investigating possible tampering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immigration records after fake entry documents were used by Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) to justify a controversial preventive detention against former presidential advisor Filipe Martins, a key ally of conservative leader and former president Jair Bolsonaro.

The case, revealed by CBP itself ten days ago and described by The Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O'Grady as an "immigration fraud," is generating an unprecedented diplomatic and judicial front between Washington and Brasilia and raises questions about the misuse of U.S. information in politically motivated processes in the region.

CBP's "mistake" and the official admission

In a communication issued on October 10, CBP acknowledged that it had been "erroneous" in the record noting Martins' entry into Orlando on December 30, 2022. In its message, the agency itself admitted that the I-94 document—the official record of entry of foreigners to the U.S.—was fabricated with incorrect data and that the case is under internal investigation.

The same agency detailed that the error served to justify months of preventive detention against the conservative advisor, who at the time was very close to former president Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempted coup and four other crimes in a controversial and irregular judicial process.

Martins' defense maintains that the record never existed and that it was created after the fact, in the midst of the legal battle faced by Martins, who is also linked to the coup plot.

According to the Defense, the document had obvious errors in the spelling of Martins' name, passport number and visa type.

The CBP not only corrected its database but also publicly condemned the misuse of the information by the Brazilian Justice. According to the statement, the manipulation of the U.S. immigration system may have involved unauthorized access to or misuse of official platforms by foreign officials.

"We recognize that Justice de Moraes cited an erroneous record to justify Mr. Martins’ monthslong imprisonment. The inclusion of this inaccurate record in CBP’s official systems remains under investigation, and CBP will take appropriate steps to prevent future discrepancies from occurring," the announcement read.

"CBP strongly condemns any misuse of this false entry to support the conviction or imprisonment of Mr. Martins or any person. We reaffirm our dedication to maintaining the integrity of our border records and supporting the principles of justice and human rights."

The role of Alexandre de Moraes

In Brazil, Judge Alexandre de Moraes, a member of the Supreme Federal Court and central figure in the prosecutions against former Bolsonaro officials, used the alleged entry into the US as evidence to order the arrest of Filipe Martins, citing a potential flight risk due to, allegedly, a lack of exit registration from Brazil.

Martins was arrested in February 2024 and spent 183 days in custody, ten of them in solitary confinement, according to the defense. Since then, he has been serving precautionary measures.

The defense and critics of the process argue that magistrate de Moraes fabricated a baseless case based on useless evidence and altered records.

De Moraes, a judge known for his judicial activism and for having been sanctioned by the Trump administration for abuse of authority, is also pointed out by various sectors as the main architect of the "judicial persecution" against bolsonarismo figures. 

In the Martins case, the strongest irregularities are in the records of entry to the Alvorada Palace—which the Brazilian Prosecutor's Office presented as evidence of "coup" meetings. These records, according to the defense, contain spelling mistakes, erasures and a lack of chain of custody. 

A violation with possible transnational scope

The column by Mary Anastasia O'Grady in the Wall Street Journal makes it clear that the CBP statements have elevated the case to an international dimension. According to the columnist, if it is confirmed that Brazilian agents or authorities irregularly accessed the CBP system, the situation could quickly escalate into a transnational crime that compromises the security of the U.S. government's digital infrastructure.

"Someone at CBP or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which supervises the agency, deserves extra credit for exposing this travesty. CBP says the investigation continues, and that’s good because the job isn’t done. The case has all the hallmarks of foreign penetration inside CBP," the columnist wrote.

However, the documentation could also have been generated with internal complicity, which would expose the agency.

As the hypotheses begin to emerge, Martins' defense has filed a lawsuit in federal courts in Florida to obtain the names of the officials responsible for the modifications to the system. For now, the documents turned over by the agency arrived with censored data, O'Grady denounced. 

Potential political and diplomatic implications

The case threatens to increase tensions in the relationship between Washington and Brasilia in a context in which President Lula da Silva is trying to recompose his international image and project himself as a slightly more reliable partner of the Trump Administration. If it is proven that Brazilian officials misused a U.S. federal database, the episode could derail Lula's intentions.