Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s new right-wing president, offered his support of President Trump’s immigration policies ahead of his first official meeting in the United States.
“The best [sic] majority of potential immigrants do not have good intentions or do not intend to do the best or do good to the U.S. people. I would very much like the U.S. to uphold the current immigration policy because to a large extent, we owe our democracy in the southern hemisphere to the United States,” Bolsonaro said in an interview on Monday.
Bolsonaro also weighed into the border wall and national emergency debate in the U.S., scuffing at individuals who are opposed Trump’s plans for building a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico divide. He said he concurs with Trump’s assessment that a border wall is necessary to maintain the country’s national security.
The newly elected Brazilian president, who is often referred to “the Trump of the Tropics,” is set to meet with Trump in the White House at noon on Tuesday.
White House officials view the meeting as an opportunity for more cooperation between the nations, a relationship that had been frosty in recent decades. Bolsonaro’s election signaled a warming shift in Brazil’s attitude towards the U.S. and a bolder rejection of the receding socialism in Latin America.
“I have been highly criticized because of this, but I will not of course deny what I do think. I am not a chameleon. I am a very straightforward, objective, honest person. And what I want to ensure is that Brazil will be a great nation, just as Trump wants America to be great again,” he said.
“So, our conversation tomorrow will be largely based on the process of helping each other because although the U.S. is a large country economically, and also on the military front, it is always good, of course, to nourish economic and friendship ties with a country like Brazil and South America,” he added. “I’m willing to open my heart up to him, and do whatever is good to the benefit of both the Brazilian and the American people.”
