Flavio Bolsonaro arrives at Miami Opa-Locka Executive Airport on Wednesday. Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro arrived in Miami on Wednesday after a dramatic journey out of his country, crossing into Argentina by land before taking private flights to the United States, despite Brazilian authorities cancelling his passports amid a money-laundering investigation. The right-wing senator, who lost Sunday's presidential election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, landed at a private airport outside Miami. His arrival followed a whirlwind 24 hours in which his whereabouts and route to the US remained largely unclear. The US State Department plans to issue visas allowing him and his family to enter the country, a senior department official said on Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomatic issues involved. Video footage showed Bolsonaro leaving a plane shortly after 09:30 local time alongside his wife and two daughters. The family was then escorted into an SUV under umbrellas. His travel to the US could deepen tensions between the administration of US President Donald Trump and Lula, who has accused Washington of interfering in Brazil's internal affairs. Trump has also criticised Brazil's election, saying it appeared to have been "rigged". Flávio Bolsonaro arrives at Miami Opa-Locka Executive Airport on Wednesday. Brazilian authorities cancelled Bolsonaro's passports on Tuesday as part of an investigation into his alleged links to a Brazilian lawyer accused of laundering more than $1bn through a scheme involving online gambling. Authorities also issued an alert to immigration officials barring him from leaving Brazil. However, it remains unclear how he managed to cross the border into Argentina. According to Argentina's National Directorate of Migration, Bolsonaro, his wife and their two daughters entered the country by land at 22:50 on Tuesday. The family travelled in a van across the Friendship Bridge, which connects Foz do Iguaçu in southern Brazil with Puerto Iguazú in Argentina. Argentine immigration authorities said they had crossed with valid travel documents and faced no legal impediment to entering the country. Bolsonaro then boarded a private aircraft operated by Baires Fly, a company that has previously transported Argentine President Javier Milei, and travelled to Guayaquil, Ecuador, according to the migration agency. He subsequently took another flight to Miami, arriving in the US early on Wednesday. Brazilian police had no record of Bolsonaro leaving the country, according to an official who spoke anonymously about the confidential matter. Argentina's federal police also said they had not registered his entry. Public records, meanwhile, suggest Bolsonaro entered the US using a Brazilian diplomatic passport that had been cancelled. Bolsonaro also holds Italian citizenship, in addition to his Brazilian documents.