US Immigration Policies and Brazilian Workforce Dynamics

 

A persistent economic crisis in Brazil

which has been further exacerbated by civil and political unrest, has been a significant factor in the emigration of individuals, including to the United States. Despite the fact that the number of Brazilian immigrants in the United States has been increasing for the past four decades, the magnitude and geography of these migrations have rendered the past decade distinctive. Brazil experienced an economic recession that was characterized by elevated unemployment rates that commenced in 2012. Simultaneously, the nation experienced an increase in crime, highly publicized corruption scandals, and an increase in political instability. The United States has become an increasingly appealing destination due to the increasing food insecurity among Brazilians, the steep appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Brazilian real, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2010 and 2019, the Brazilian immigrant population in the United States increased by nearly 50%, from 340,000 to 502,000.

Brazilians have been increasingly attempting to access the United States through its border with Mexico. In fiscal year (FY) 2016, U.S. Customs and frontier Protection (CBP) recorded approximately 3,100 apprehensions of Brazilians along the southern frontier. However, the number of encounters reached a record high of nearly 57,000 in FY 2021. The number of Brazilians apprehended by Mexican immigration authorities increased from approximately 300 in 2016 to nearly 17,000 in 2021. The Mexican government instituted a requirement in December 2021 for Brazilians to obtain tourist visas in order to enter Mexico, in response to the increasing number of Brazilians and pressure from the U.S. government. After the visa requirement was implemented, the number of CBP encounters with Brazilians at the southern frontier experienced a significant decline, plummeting from approximately 7,900 in December 2021 to 1,300 in March 2022. Nevertheless, the figures are once again on the rise, having reached 4,800 in May, and are expected to continue to rise, at least in the short term.

As of 2019, Brazilians comprise just over 1% of the 44.9 million immigrants

in the United States, which is consistent with the immigration trend that commenced in 1980, when 41,000 Brazilian immigrants resided in the country. The figure had doubled by 1990 and reached 212,000 at the turn of the century. It then more than doubled again over the next two decades. The Brazilian immigrant population in the United States is currently the largest in the globe. Brazil is also represented in Portugal (154,000), Italy, and Spain (approximately 133,000 each), as well as in Japan (205,000), according to mid-2020 estimates from the United Nations Population Division. The greatest number of Brazilian migrants in South America was hosted by Brazil's neighbors, Paraguay (80,000) and Argentina (49,000). The majority of Brazilian immigrants in the United States are not U.S. citizens, and those who established permanent resident status (also referred to as a green card) in FY 2020 primarily depended on employer or family sponsorship. Brazilian immigrants have higher levels of educational attainment and household incomes than both the foreign- and U.S.-born populations. Nevertheless, they are more likely to experience destitution and lack health insurance than the U.S.-born population.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau (the 2019 American Community Survey [ACS] as well as pooled 2015-19 ACS data), the Department of Homeland Security's 2020 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, and World Bank annual remittance data, this Spotlight concentrates on the size, geographic distribution, and socioeconomic characteristics of the Brazilian immigrant population in the United States. As of the 2015-19 period, Florida (22%), Massachusetts (17%), and California (11%) were the residences of half of all Brazilian migrants. Middlesex County in Massachusetts and four counties in Florida—Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Palm Beach—were the top five counties with Brazilian immigrants. Twenty-four percent of Brazilian immigrants in the United States resided in the five counties collectively. for an interactive map that illustrates the geographic distribution of immigrants by county and state. To determine the states and counties with the highest concentrations of Brazilian immigrants, select Brazil from the navigation menu.

The metropolitan areas of Boston (13 percent), Miami (13 percent), and New York (12 percent) were the U.S. cities with the highest concentration of Brazilian immigrants. These three metropolitan areas were the residence of more than one-third of all Brazilian immigrants. Brazilian immigrants exhibit a higher level of educational attainment than the general adult population of foreign- and U.S.-born individuals. In comparison to the total immigrant and U.S.-born populations, 44 percent of Brazilian immigrant adults (ages 25 and older) had a bachelor's degree or higher in 2019. Graduate or professional degrees were held by a slightly higher percentage of Brazilian immigrants (17 percent) than by all immigrant adults (14 percent) and U.S.-born adults (13 percent). About 14,000 international students from Brazil were enrolled in U.S. higher education institutions during the 2020-21 academic year, as reported by the Institute of International Education. Brazil ranked eighth among sending countries, despite the fact that this represents a relatively small proportion of the 914,000 foreign nationals studying in the United States. It was also the greatest country of origin from Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for nearly 20% of all students from the region who were studying in the United States.

Poverty and Income

Brazilian immigrants typically have higher median household incomes than both the aggregate immigrant and U.S.-born populations. The median household income of Brazilian immigrants in 2019 was approximately $68,000, while the median household income of U.S.-born households was $66,000 and that of all immigrant households was $64,000. Simultaneously, Brazilian immigrants experienced hardship at a rate that was higher (15 percent) than that of the U.S.-born population (12 percent), but it was relatively comparable to the overall immigrant population’s (14%). Naturalization and Immigration Routes The likelihood of Brazilian immigrants becoming naturalized U.S. citizens is significantly lower than that of the general immigrant population. In 2019, only 35% of Brazilian immigrants had become U.S. citizens, while 52% of the total foreign-born population had done so. The lower rate of citizenship acquisition is partially due to the recent presence of Brazilians, with 47 percent of them arriving in 2010 or later. For purpose of comparison, twenty-five percent of all immigrants arrived during the same timeframe (refer to Figure 6). It is also a result of the circular migration pattern that was prevalent among numerous Brazilians, who perceived their time in the United States as a transient stay. However, this trend may be shifting, as an increasing number of Brazilians are fleeing their homeland with no intention of returning.