Brazilian immigrants
Brazilian immigrants are individuals who have relocated from Brazil to various countries, notably the United States, primarily due to economic and political instability in their home country during the late twentieth century. An estimated one million Brazilians moved to the U.S., many seeking employment in service industries in regions like northeastern metropolitan areas, southern Florida, and California. Most of these immigrants originated from the Europeanized southern regions of Brazil and included members of the middle and upper classes, particularly during the economic turmoil of the 1980s, which saw hyperinflation and a shift from military to democratic governance.
Despite their mixed ethnic backgrounds, those most likely to emigrate were predominantly of European heritage. By the early twenty-first century, estimates indicated that about two million Brazilians resided in the U.S., making it the country with the largest Brazilian population outside of Brazil. Brazilian communities are particularly concentrated in Florida and New York, with cultural contributions reflected in neighborhoods like Little Brazil in Manhattan. Although many Brazilian immigrants experience a decline in social status upon arrival, they often achieve better economic conditions compared to their circumstances in Brazil, sending remittances back home. However, stricter immigration policies and improved conditions in Brazil have influenced recent trends, leading to a decrease in emigration and some Brazilians returning to their home country.
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Brazilian immigrants
SIGNIFICANCE: Economic and political instability in Brazil during the late twentieth century prompted unprecedented emigration from the country. Approximately one million Brazilians came to live in the United States (US). Many of these immigrants took jobs in service industries in northeastern metropolitan areas, southern Florida, and California. Mostly members of the middle and upper classes in their native country, they came primarily from the Europeanized southern regions of Brazil.
The first Brazilians to enter what is now the US may have been a group of Sephardic Jews who arrived in 1654. Calculating the number of Brazilians in the US is speculative. With a sparse migration history, they have been ambiguously identified by immigration agencies as “Hispanic,” “Latino,” and “South” or “Latin” American. The US Census Bureau first listed a category for Brazilian residents in 1960, calculating under thirty thousand. Until the 1980s, no more than a few thousand entered annually.
The 1980s saw a huge swell of immigrants seeking economic opportunity and fleeing social decay. During that decade, Brazil suffered hyperinflation that paralyzed its economy, causing unemployment to soar. Moreover, an authoritarian military government was replaced by a democratic civilian administration. These factors prompted numerous middle- and upper-class Brazilians to emigrate, primarily to Europe and the US. By the end of the twentieth century, approximately two million Brazilians had migrated abroad, more than 1 percent of the national population.
Brazil is a country of richly mixed African, European, and Indigenous ethnicities. However, the Brazilians most likely to emigrate were from the European-heritage southern parts of the country. They settled in northeastern US states with Portuguese-speaking communities, East Coast metropolitan areas with varied job opportunities, and parts of California and southern Florida with climates similar to their homeland. California and Florida tended to attract upper-class Brazilians with professional and artistic ambitions. About 100,000 Brazilians lived in New York City, forming a Little Brazil neighborhood in mid-Manhattan, where the monthly tabloid newspaper The Brasilians was launched.
Approximately one million Brazilians lived in the US at the beginning of the twenty-first century. However, that figure is merely an estimate because as many as one-third of Brazilian immigrants enter the US without documentation to evade quota restrictions. One city in central Brazil became notorious for sending clandestine immigrants, who settled mainly in New Jersey and worked shoeshine services. From 2010 to 2019, the population of Brazilian immigrants in the US rose from 340,000 to 502,000. Brazilians made up more than 1 percent of all immigrants to the country in 2019. Further, Brazilians continued to enter the country illegally as well. By 2023, approximately 2 million Brazilians were estimated to reside in the US. This figure took into consideration both legal and undocumented immigrants. The Brazilian communities remained concentrated in Florida and New York, and the US remained the country with the largest Brazilian population outside Brazil.
Middle-class Brazilians who have settled in the US may decline in social status, working in restaurants and housecleaning jobs. Still, they improve economically relative to Brazil, sending back remittances to their families. Brazil's economic and political conditions have greatly improved during the twenty-first century, so the impetus for immigrating has declined. At the same time, since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, US immigration and police agents have been more vigilant regarding undocumented immigrants. Thereby, uncertain legal status and marginal socioeconomic status have prompted many Brazilians to return to Brazil. Further, Brazil has tightened its restrictions over who can immigrate into Brazil and who can immigrate to other countries from Brazil due to concerns over Brazil being used as a stop-over point for illegal migrations to the US and Canada by people in Asian countries, such as India, Nepal, and Vietnam.
Bibliography
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"Brazilian Community in U.S. 2023." Statista, 8 Aug. 2024, www.statista.com/statistics/1396459/brazilian-community-in-united-states. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
Fernández Campbell, Alexia. "The Brazilian Immigrants Who Saved a Dying Mill Town." The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Group, 2 June 2015, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/the-brazilian-immigrants-who-saved-a-dying-mill-town/432078. Accessed 10 Oct. 2016.
Jouët-Pastré, Clémence, and Leticia J. Braga. Becoming Brazuca: Brazilian Immigration to the United States. Cambridge, Mass.: David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University Press, 2008.
Margolis, Maxine L. Little Brazil: An Ethnography of Brazilian Immigrants in New York City. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994.
Waters, Jaret, and Jeanne Batalova. "Brazilian Immigrants in the United States." Migration Policy Institute, 4 Aug. 2022, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/brazilian-immigrants-united-states. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.