Brief discussion about the brazilian community and the impact of the economic crisis and political climate on their decision of staying or living the United States.

2. Alvaro Lima has been in the United States for 22
years and is the Director of Research for the City
of Boston. He is an economic adviser for the
Mayor of Boston, Thomas M. Menino. Recently he
served as Senior Vice President, Director of
Research of the Initiative for Competitive Inner
City (ICIC), a non-profit organization founded by
Harvard Professor Michael Porter. An economist
by training, he is the former chief of the
Economic Department of the Ministry of Industry
and Energy in Mozambique and coordinator of
Regional Development Projects at the Institute
for Social and Economic Research—IPARDES, in
his home country Brazil.
Mr. Lima serves on many Boards and Committees
including the Office of New Bostonians, the
Governor’s Adv ivory Council for Refugees and
Immigrants and the Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston ‘s Community Investment Advisory
Board.

4.  Brazil has long seen itself as a
destination for immigrants from across
the globe
 Large-scale immigration from Brazil is
a relatively recent phenomenon
 Today, there are approximately 2.5
million Brazilians living outside Brazil
Main destinations for
Brazilian immigrants:
 U.S. – 42%
 Paraguay – 23%
 Japan 12%
Source: Jose Alberto Magno de Carvalho, CDRP, Federal University of Minas Gerais

5.  According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
between 1.3 and 1.5 million Brazilians live in the United
States distributed as follows:
Source: Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2007.

6.  Brazilian immigrants contribute to the economy as
workers and consumers:
• $28 billion in annual spending
• $58 billion contribution to
the regional product
• $7 billion in state and
federal taxes
• 625 thousand indirect
jobs created
• 31% of all housing units
occupied by Brazilians in the
U.S. are owner occupied.
Source: Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) Research Division. (2005). (REMI) calculations based on the 2007 American Community Survey U.S Census Bureau; Public Use Microdata
(PUM) 5% Sample 2000, U.S. Census Bureau, BRA Research Division Analysis.

7.  They contribute also as
entrepreneurs. Brazilians own
more than 3,700 small and
median size businesses
 Brazilian businesses are
concentrated in retail trade,
accommodations & food services,
and other services:
 Annual Sales - $3 billion
 Direct and Indirect Jobs –
24,000
 Direct and Indirect Wages -
$952 million
 State and Federal Taxes -
$240 million (direct and
indirect)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Census, Public Use Microdata (PUM) 5% Sample 2000, BRA Research Division Analysis; Fazendo America, Alvaro Lima and Pete Plastrik, 2006

8.  Most Brazilian immigrants
are employed (85.6%). The
majority, in service
occupations followed by
management, professional
and other related
occupations
Employment
90.0%
85.6%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
12.4%
10.0%
0.8%
0.4%
0.4%
0.4%
0.0%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Census, Public Use Microdata (PUM) 5% Sample 2000, BRA Research Division Analysis; Fazendo America, Alvaro Lima and Pete Plastrik, 2006

9.  Most research on remittances point out a monthly average of
$400 for Brazilians:
Beneficiary
States
60
51.6%
50
40
30
20
9.6%
10
6.4%
6%
5.2%
4.4%
3.6%
3.6%
2.4%
0
Beneficiary
Ci@es
8
7.6%
7.2%
7
6%
6
5.6%
5.2%
4.8%
5
4
3.6%
3.2%
2.8%
2.8%
3
2.4%
2
1
0
Source: U.S. Bureau of Census, Public Use Microdata (PUM) 5% Sample 2000, BRA Research Division Analysis; Fazendo America, Alvaro Lima and Pete Plastrik, 2006

10.  Brazilians have an average number of people with bank
accounts in the U.S.:
Bank Account in the U.S.by Nationality
90.0 84.5 Above Average
80.0 75.5 75.0
70.4
70.0 Average = 61.1%
58.3
60.0 53.0 Below Average
50.0
39.5
40.0 33.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Monthly
Payments
to
Credit
Card
by
Na@onality
$800.00
$714.74
$700.00
$600.00
$500.00
$413.21
$400.00
$341.00
$317.65
$301.51
$300.00
$265.45
$217.76
$212.52
$200.00
$100.00
$0.00
Source: U.S. Bureau of Census, Public Use Microdata (PUM) 5% Sample 2000, BRA Research Division Analysis; Fazendo America, Alvaro Lima and Pete Plastrik, 2006

11. Credit/Debit
Card
by
Na@onality
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Both
Credit
Debit
None
of
them
Financial
Accounts
in
Country
of
Origin
37.6%
40.0%
35.0%
28.9%
30.0%
26.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.5%
5.0%
1.6%
0.3%
0.0%
Does
not
Checking
Savings
Credit
card
Investment
Foreign
have
/
NR
account
account
account
currency
savings

13.  Between 2005-2006 U.S. immigration increased 3.8% while
the Brazilian flow increased 4.3%. During the next period,
2006-2007, the Brazilian flow decreased slightly (-1.1%)
while the national increased only 0.7%:
Welfare Reform
Act of 1996
1982 deadline for US Patriot
U.S. residence Immigration Act of
Reform and 2001
Control Act of
Immigration Act 1986
of 1965
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, BRA Research Division Analysis

14.  High levels of immigration (the 1990s ranks numerically as
the highest immigration decade in American history - over
14 million legal and illegal newcomers) creates serious
anxiety on the American population;
 Deep divisions and genuine differences of opinion help
explain why the country’s elected officials have been
unable to produce solutions:
 The House of Representatives passed a bill in December 2005 that calls for
though new enforcement measures at the border and in the interior of the
country. Its logic is that immigration is fundamentally an issue of national
sovereignty and the rule of law;
 The Senate legislation that passed in May 2006 also adopts stringent
enforcement measures. Bipartisan and comprehensive, it also expands legal
immigration, including the opportunity to earn legal immigration, including the
opportunity to earn legal status for most of those currently in the country
illegally.
 The 2006 “Independent Task Force on Immigration and
America’s Future,” co-chaired by Spencer Abraham and
Lee H. Hamilton,* sets immigration levels of approximately
1.5 million (actual levels are 1.8 million) annually as a
starting point, however. Why?
Source: Jeffrey Parsel, Pew Hispanic Center, 2008. Spencer Abraham is a former U.S. Senator from Michigan; Lee H. Hamilton was the vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission and currently serves on
the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, having previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty-four years.

15.  They recognize that immigration is critical to sustaining
the vitality of the U.S. economy:
 The workforce is aging, there are fewer new native-born workers entering
the labor market (more than 10 million skilled workers will be leaving the
workforce by 2010);
 They also recognize that the Baby Boom generation just hit 62 and is
filing for Social Security benefits and that the ratio of seniors to prime-
working-age adults is expected to grow from 240 to 411 per 1,000;
 For them, immigrants will be expected to fill this growing
gap in the labor market;
 They also understand that past experiences have been
notoriously ineffective:
 The 1952 legislation imposing sanctions on those harboring or abetting
unauthorized immigrants did not work and ended up exempting employment
from being considered as “harboring;”
 The passage of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), should,
supposedly, correct the short-comes of the 1952 legislation by making border
enforcement, employer sanctions, and legalization key elements of the new
strategy, has been notoriously ineffective;
Source: Jeffrey Parsel, Pew Hispanic Center, 2008; Report of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, 2006.

16.  Again, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 reinstates these same principles
but proves to be ineffective;
 The Task Force asserts that “the United States lacks the
capacity to enforce the departure of a significant
percentage of the millions of unauthorized immigrants,
many of whom have lived and worked in the U.S. for years
and have U.S. citizen children;
 Their core conclusion is that “the benefits of immigration
significantly advance U.S. national interests in the 21st
century. However, harnessing those benefits over the long
term requires fundamentally re-thinking U.S. policies, and
overhauling the nation’s system for managing immigration;
 Brazilian activists and the Brazilian immigrant press
continue to push the “exodus” story line. The main stream
press repeats it ad nauseam…
Source: Jeffrey Parsel, Pew Hispanic Center, 2008; Report of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, 2006.

17. With
the
dollar
falling
and
the
economy
in
Brazil
booming,
Brazilian
immigrants
in
the
United
States
are
returning
home
by
the
thousands.
Dan
Grech
reports.
Fausto Da Rocha, executive director
of the Brazilian Immigrant Center,
said the weak dollar is just one of “In Brazil the economy is
several reasons Brazilians are booming,” said Fausto Da Rocha,
returning home. Brazilians are the executive director of the Brazilian
second-fastest growing group of Immigrant Center based in
illegal immigrants in the United Allston. “There are 160,000 new
States, and many were deeply jobs every month and the cost to
disappointed last summer when live in the United States is too
Congress failed to pass a bill that high.”
would have given millions of
immigrants a chance to apply for
legal residency.

18. Fausto Da Rocha, executive director of the Brazilian Immigrant Center, said the
weak dollar is just one of several reasons Brazilians are returning home.
Brazilians are the second-fastest growing group of illegal immigrants in the
United States, and many were deeply disappointed last summer when Congress
failed to pass a bill that would have given millions of immigrants a chance to
apply for legal residency.
 More recently however, the “exodus” has become a little more
difficult to explain as such. Why?
 The main reasons explaining the “exodus,” are:
 Economic downturn in the U.S. - makes more difficult for immigrants to find
well-paying jobs;
 Inflation in the U.S. - the rise in price of food and fuel which makes life more
expensive reducing the capacity of immigrant to send money home;
 Value of the dollar - the appreciation of the real against the dollar reduce the
value of remittances;
 Migration climate – aggressive immigration enforcement reduces immigrants
ability to find jobs and to send money home.

19.  Economic downturn in the U.S. may imply downturn in Brazil,
particularly Brazilian immigrant-sending cities - or, a boom in Brazil
may not touch these areas. Middle-class jobs, particularly in
Brazilian immigrant-sending cities, continue to be hard to find even
with the actual boom ;
 Inflation in the U.S. does not imply return to Brazil, because despite
the fast depreciation in real terms, the U.S. informal wage paid to
foreign workers exceeds the legal minimum and even that available
for skilled workers in Brazil ;
 Depreciation of the dollar forces Brazilians to work longer or harder
to remit the same amount as before;
 Migration climate , that is aggressive immigration enforcement may
force Brazilians to live but the decision is not as simple as it
appears;
 Finally, most people do not emigrate to escape perennial
unemployment or destitution in their homeland but to attain
or maintain a lifestyle

20.  Curiously enough, the recent
article (October 14, 2008) on
the right features Silvana
Soares, the Director of
Communications for a center
in Governador Valadares, in a
interview to the MetroWest
Daily News of Framingham
explaining how difficult it is
for family members left behind
while their loved ones work
overseas… NOT HOW THE
EXODUS HAVE DEVASTED
THE COMMUNITIES IN
VALADARES…

21.  The current economic slowdown coupled with aggressive
immigration enforcement has forced some Brazilian
immigrants to return to Brazil. It has also “locked-in” the
majority of Brazilians in the U.S. because the cost of living,
and trying to return later, particularly for illegal
immigrants, is very high;
 As shown before, some Brazilians have left, but there is no
“exodus.” the reasons they emigrated are still here. The
actual economic crisis cut both ways as the recent article
in the Milford Daily News below attests:
In 2003, when he came here, the rate was $3 real (Brazil's
currency) for every dollar, and in August, when he thought it was
better to leave for good, the exchange rate was $1.5 real for every
dollar.
But after the dollar's value went up in Brazil this past week, a
result of the worldwide financial crisis that pushed its price up,
Vidal decided to stay.
When the markets closed on Friday, the exchange rate was $2.3
real for every dollar.
"I'm not going back now," said Vidal, 27, who works in
construction. "I'll stay one or two more years, but I may change my
mind depending on what happens. I know two friends of mine who
have canceled their trips back home because the dollar went up."