much toget here. About 4,000Haitians have immigrated to Brazil since the 2010 earthquake, often going firstthrough Ecuador, a poorer country with lax visa policies. Brazil has made anexception for Haitians in contrast to job-seekers from nations like Pakistan,India and Bangladesh, who arrive via similar Amazonian routes but are usuallyexpelled. Haiti isrecovering from an extreme period of crisis, and Brazil is in a position tohelp these people, said Valdecir Nicacio, a human rights official in the stateof Acre, encompassing Brasileia. Before getting here, they are at the mercy ofhuman traffickers, he said. Brazil is big enough to absorb Haitians who justwant jobs. With thenumber of Haitians sharply increasing in recent days, the authorities inBrasileia and Tabatinga, a border city in Amazonas State, have warned of thestrains of trying to feed and house the Haitians while visa applications arereviewed. Federal officials have responded by sending tons of food for theHaitians, who currently number more than 1,000 in each border settlement. Dealingwith an immigration crisis on its border is a new dilemma for Brazil, whichuntil recently was more concerned with the outflow of its own citizens seekingopportunities in rich industrialized countries than responding to the arrivalof thousands of impoverished foreigners. Thougheconomic growth has recently slowed in Brazil, unemployment remains at ahistoric low of 5.2 percent, and many companies have trouble finding enoughworkers to fill vacancies. Wages have also climbed for those at the lowest rungof the job market, with the income of poor Brazilians growing seven times asmuch as the income of rich Brazilians from 2003 to 2009. We wereexperiencing a decline in our work force because so many Brazilians are goingto work at the two hydroelectric projects, said Ana Terezinha Carvalho, thepersonnel management analyst at Marquise, a company in Porto Velho. The citylies in the upper Amazon River Basin, where Brazil is employing thousands tobuild two big dams, called Jirau and Santo Antonio. Ms.Carvalho said her company quickly hired 37 Haitians who arrived last year, tocollect trash in Porto Velho and take it to the citys landfill. Some make morethan $800 a month, in a job that includes benefits like health insurance,overtime and paid holidays. There werent enough Brazilians, so we were happyto hire the Haitians, she said. Theauthorities estimate that about 500 Haitians now live in Porto Velho and thatabout 700 are in Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon. Hundredsmore have made it to Sao Paulo, Brazils economic capital. Companies likeFibratec, a swimming pool manufacturer in southern Santa Catarina State, haveeven sent managers all the way here to hire dozens of Haitians. In additionto meeting demand for cheap labor, the effort to let Haitians work in Brazilspeaks to the countrys ambitions of wielding greater regional influence, byattempting to find ways of alleviating problems in the hemispheres poorestnation. Since 2004,Brazil has sent troops to lead a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti.But there are now more Haitians in Brazil than Brazilian soldiers in Haiti. InSeptember, Brazil announced that it would start drawing down its 2,000 troopsin the Caribbean nation. Most of theHaitians hope to spend just a few weeks in Brasileias immigration