Argentine immigration officers turned back Brazilian freelance journalist Rogério Tomaz Jr. at Buenos Aires' Aeroparque airport on Monday, October 12, and put him on a flight to São Paulo, after the National Migration Directorate cancelled his permanent residency and barred him from re-entering for five years.
Tomaz, whose full name is José Rogério Carvalho Tomaz Júnior, is linked to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's Workers' Party and has called Milei a "degenerate psychopath" online. He told Infobae he came for interviews for a book on Milei's government due in February, and was handed the cancellation papers at the airport. He works for Brazil's Chamber of Deputies and said he was on vacation from that job.
The government says the decision concerns residency rules, not speech. According to the resolution, which Infobae obtained, Tomaz spent only 153 days in Argentina after receiving permanent residency on January 20, 2022, and had no verifiable job, studies or family ties. Security Ministry sources also said that he did not live at the address he had declared, and that he "had barely stayed in the country." The resolution, number SDX 89027 and dated August 5, cites article 62(f) of the migration law, as amended by Milei's decree 366/2025, which allows residency to be cancelled when a resident has distorted the reasons it was granted. Infobae reported that the document does not mention his posts.
Tomaz says the timing is political. In July he joined an online row over Brazilian students' posts about the World Cup final, and on July 23 Juan Pablo Carreira, a senior government communications official known online as Juan Doe, shared a clip of him and insulted him. The resolution is dated 13 days later. Tomaz also wrote on October 2 that Lula loved Argentina more than the "degenerate psychopath" governing it.
After the news broke, presidential adviser Santiago Caputo posted on X, "Your operation failed, champ," next to an image of Tomaz with Lula. Carreira posted, "One fewer leftist in Argentina." Tomaz replied that "time puts everyone in their place."
Essa foto é de agora às 16h, já no aeroporto de Guarulhos, a caminho de Brasília. Tenho muito orgulho do caminho que escolhi e construí na minha vida. Ser deportado, em razão das minhas críticas políticas, por um governo de narcos, pedófilos, ladrões de criptomoeda e agressores de aposentados é praticamente um troféu para mim. No Brasil (ainda) tem democracia, mas estamos em sério risco de virar uma Argentina. Vamo que vamo!
Translation: "This photo is from just now, 4 p.m., already at Guarulhos airport on my way to Brasília. I am very proud of the path I chose and built in my life. Being deported, because of my political criticism, by a government of narcos, pedophiles, cryptocurrency thieves and abusers of retirees is practically a trophy for me. In Brazil there is (still) democracy, but we are at serious risk of becoming an Argentina. Let's go!"
Brazil's embassy in Buenos Aires described the case as a consular matter and did not link it to Milei's backing for Flávio Bolsonaro. Ties between the two countries have been at chargé d'affaires level since early August, a downgrade ordered by Brasília after Milei insulted Lula. Brazil votes in a presidential run-off between Lula and Bolsonaro on October 25.
Under the resolution, Tomaz can appeal only from abroad and has 15 days to do so. "I have 15 days from today to appeal," he told Infobae.
