Haitian Brazilians

**Haitian Brazilians** (Portuguese: *Haitiano-Brasileiros*, French: *Haïtien Brésiliens*, Haitian Creole: *Ayisyen-Brezilyen*) are Brazilians of full, partial, or predominantly Haitian ancestry, or Haitian-born person residing in Brazil.
Haitian immigration to Brazil become a migratory phenomenon that gained large after the earthquake that rocked Haiti in 2010. The presence of Haitians in Brazil was negligible before the political instability that affected the country in 2004. Since then, the presence of military peacekeepers UN (mostly Brazilian), Haitians have come to see in Brazil a reference point, a fact that was reinforced after the disaster, which triggered the great migratory wave that started in 2010.

## Illegal immigration

According to the government of Acre, since December 2010, approximately 15,000 Haitians have entered the border of Peru and the state settled precariously in the states of Acre and Amazonas. As of 2015, around 50,000 Haitians are living in Brazil.

Numbers in the Federal Police. From January to September of the year 2011 were 6000, says delegate PF Carlos Frederico Santos Ribeiro Portella. In 2012, there were 2,318 Haitians who entered illegally.

### Legalization

llegal Haitians arrive in Brasilia by bus and are advised to seek the station of PF requesting refuge by filling out a questionnaire in their own language and being interviewed by police. The PF dispatches a preliminary protocol that makes the "asylum seekers", getting the same rights as Brazilian citizens, such as health and education. They can also take work papers, passport and CPF, being officially registered in the country.

After registration at the PF, the following documentation to the National Committee for Refugees ( Conare ) and the National Immigration Council ( CNIg ), opening a process for evaluating the granting of permanent residence in humanitarian, valid for up to 5 years.

Officially, the Haitians are not considered refugees by Brazilian law, which means that the refuge can be granted only to those who prove to be suffering persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion in his country. Due to the large influx of Haitians to Brazil, the government made an exception and gives them a different visa, treating them differently than other illegal immigrants.

### Legal and institutional deadlock

The governor of Acre decreed a social emergency for the municipalities of Epitaciolândia and Brasileia as a result of the uncontrolled influx of immigrants (mostly Haitians) into these places.

This occurred before the new bureaucratic process for new arrivals was instituted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The opening of diplomatic dialogue with the governments of Peru and Ecuador to visa requirements of immigrants would solve 90% of the problem of illegal immigration.

Besides the Haitians, people from other countries are starting to use the border between Assis Brasil and the Peruvian city of Iñapari as a gateway to Brazil. Coming from countries such as Senegal, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, and Bangladesh, many are trying to share with the Haitians the shelter of Brasileia.

## Sending money abroad

Haitians living abroad sent remittances in 2012 amounted to 22% of the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Haiti, according to the Intelligence Agency of the United States of America (CIA). Before the 2010 earthquake, which destroyed the country's infrastructure and caused a wave of immigration to Brazil, the impact of remittances in GDP did not reach 16%.

According to the World Bank, the value of international remittances to Haiti reached $1.82 billion last year. Before the quake, not less than U.S. $1.3 billion. The Central Bank of Brazil says it has no value sent by individuals or legal there since 2010, but Haitians working in Brazil said they send, on average, $500 a month for family.

## Sport

The growing Haitian community in Brazil motivated the foundation of the all-Haitian football team called the *Pérolas Negras* (French: *Perles Noires*) in 2009. The team participated in the prestigious Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior in 2016.

## Academic studies

Being a recent migration and unprecedented in the history of Brazil, studies on this migration are still scarce. One of the first studies that have been known is the Haitian Jenny Télémaque, who analyzed the discourse of Brazilian media regarding the Haitian migration to Brazil.

Several articles have been published dealing with general aspects of immigration, from various perspectives, including: “A migração de haitianos para o Brasil”;[4] “Brazil, a new Eldorado for Immigrants?: The Case of Haitians and the Brazilian Immigration Policy;[5] “Prá que engolir rejeitados do Haiti? O lugar de onde falo!".

In 2014, it was published the result of the project coordinated by Professor Duval Fernandes titled “Estudos sobre a Migração Haitiana ao Brasil e Diálogo Bilateral; result of a partnership between the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais with educational and research institutions of Haiti, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, as well as with the Ministry of Labour and Employment of Brazil and the International Organization for Migration. The initiative yielded material related to all migratory path of Haitians to Brazil

In the same year, it was held at the Graduate Program in History and Cultural Studies at the Federal University of Rondônia - UNIR, the master's thesis Geraldo Cotinguiba entitled: “Imigração haitiana para o Brasil – a relação entre trabalho e processos migratórios”.

In 2015 it was defended in the Program of Social and Human Sciences of the Federal University of ABC - UFABC, the Master's thesis entitled "Reve de Brezil: A Inserção de um Grupo de Imigrantes Haitianos em Santo André, São Paulo - Brasil, the result of an ethnographic work done by researcher Adriano Araujo with the Haitian immigrant community established in the Core Gypsies in Grande ABC.

Also in 2015, the Haitian researcher and professor at the Federal University of Amapá, Joseph Handerson, defended the Anthropology Program of the National Museum / UFRJ, his thesis entitled. "Diáspora. As Dinâmicas da Mobilidade Haitiana no Brasil, no Suriname e na Guiana Francesa"; a study about the dynamics related to the Haitian diaspora in different parts of the world.