Influx of Haitians Into the Amazon Prompts Immigration Debate in Brazil
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Faced with an influx of thousands of Haitians into its Amazonian frontier, Brazil has reacted by cracking down, offering a view into its growing pains as it wields greater regional influence and emerges as an immigration magnet.
Brazil restricted Haitian immigration in January after about 4,000 Haitians made their way across the Americas to remote outposts in the Amazon, including hundreds who arrived around the end of 2011. Their arrival set off a debate over Brazil's commitments to Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, and what kind of immigrants Brazil should attract.
The authorities waded in, declaring that just 100 temporary work visas a month would be given to Haitians, at Brazil's Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Any new arrivals would risk deportation. The measures adopted in January would also make about 2,400 humanitarian visas available to Haitians who had recently arrived, allowing them to remain indefinitely and work in Brazil, in addition to about 1,600 visas already granted to Haitians who made their to Brazil after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
The move effectively curbed the influx. But it also shifted pressure across the border to Peru, where hundreds of Haitians have become stranded. And the measures opened Brazil to claims that its immigration policies were tilting the scales in favor of skilled professionals from rich countries, instead of poor foreign laborers, at a time of historically low unemployment, when many Brazilian companies are struggling to hire workers.
The authorities in Brazil say that the new rules are needed to prevent Haitians from falling victim to human traffickers and thieves during the long journeys that many have endured. They often flew from the Dominican Republic to Panama, then to Ecuador or Peru, before traveling by bus or on foot to Brazilian border outposts.
First Published February 8, 2012 12:01 am
