A 46-year-old Florida man was arrested after he allegedly dressed head to toe as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and wandered through a crowd of Brazilian voters casting ballots in their country's presidential election at Miami-Dade College's Kendall Campus. Investigators said voters appeared afraid, believing the man could be a real federal agent capable of interfering with the election or even deporting people on the spot.
Danilo Alves Silva, who lives in Port Saint Lucie and was born in Brazil, was taken into custody Oct. 4 after Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office Homeland Security Bureau detectives responded to the campus, according to CBS News Miami. The outlet reported that Silva was decked out in a blue ICE hat, sunglasses, a camouflage face mask, a blue ICE raid jacket and tactical boots, and that he was carrying a handheld radio. The Kendall campus was serving as one of just two polling stations in the state for Brazil's general election, and as reported by FIU's Caplin News, its buildings filled with voters who waited in lines up to an hour.
According to WSVN, several people at the site appeared fearful because they believed Silva was an actual ICE agent, and investigators said some worried he was interfering with the election or could potentially deport people right there at the polling site. Silva eventually admitted he was not a federal agent at all — he told detectives, per the CBS Miami report, that he'd bought the costume on Amazon and had changed into it after casting his own vote, then returned to the site to film people's reactions on his phone.
Threat and Alleged Bribe Attempt Against Detective
The station's report also described a tense moment during the arrest in which Silva allegedly threatened a detective and tried to buy his way out of trouble, telling the detective, “I will get you paid if you let me go.” Miami-Dade College separately issued Silva a formal trespass warning through its chief of security, barring him from returning to the Kendall Campus.
Exactly which charges Silva faces depends on which outlet's account you read. CBS News Miami reported he is facing five charges: felony voting intimidation, bribery, threatening a public servant, unlawful use of police insignia and disorderly conduct. The Miami Herald, however, reported that deputies booked Silva into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of voter intimidation, conspiracy to commit bribery, unlawful use of law enforcement insignia and disorderly conduct — a somewhat different lineup than what CBS described. As reported by WKRC, Silva is said to face five charges total tied to the incident.
Conflicting Bond Figures, Hearing Set for Oct. 19
Reports also diverge on Silva's bond. CBS News Miami reported his total bond was set at $5,650 and that he had posted it. The Miami Herald, citing jail records, reported that his bond on charges other than voter intimidation was $2,650, and that as of Oct. 5 a judge had not yet set bond on the voter-intimidation charge itself. Silva appeared before a judge Oct. 5, and per CBS News Miami, he has a hearing scheduled for Oct. 19, when prosecutors will decide whether to formally file charges against him.
Florida law offers some context for the charges investigators are weighing. Under the state's Voter Protection Act, a person may not directly or indirectly use or threaten force, violence, intimidation, coercion or another intimidation tactic to induce or compel someone in connection with voting, according to The Florida Senate. Separately, state law makes it unlawful for a person, absent an exception, to wear or display authorized indicia of authority such as a badge, insignia or emblem, per a Florida Senate statute covering police impersonation.
