The humanitarian crisis that gained visibility with the mass arrival of immigrants to Europe, many of them refugees primarily from the Middle East and Northern Africa, has again focused the spotlight on the phenomenon of large-scale migration.\u00a0 Its impact has reverberated in other countries, including Brazil, which saw the number of refugees entering the country double in the past four years.\u00a0 Syrians, for example, now represent 24.5% of the 8,530 refugees in Brazil.\u00a0 Despite their small number (close to the contingent that arrived in Europe), these immigrants often trigger a certain amount of alienation and become targets for discriminatory actions in Brazil.<\/p>\n
This topic is the subject of research studies such as the ones currently underway at the Population Studies Center of the University of Campinas (NEPO-Unicamp) and the Center for Metropolitan Studies at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (CEM-USP), and is featured as this month\u2019s cover story<\/a>. Since the 2000s, large metropolitan areas have ceased to be the nearly exclusive destination for immigrants: in their pursuit of employment, these groups now follow the investments in agriculture or industry to smaller cities in Brazil\u2019s interior.\u00a0 Researchers also suggest that the migratory wave of the past 10 years is at odds with unspoken historical assumptions that dictate the notion that the \u201cideal\u201d foreigners for Brazil are white, European Catholics.\u00a0 This discriminatory and restrictive view has now come to serve as a basis for Brazilian government actions \u2013 reminiscent of the Estado Novo\u2019s <\/em>plan to \u201cwhiten\u201d the Brazilian population (see Pesquisa FAPESP <\/em>Issue n\u00ba 201<\/a>). The current wave consists mainly of Latin Americans (Bolivians, Haitians and Colombians) in addition to Africans such as those from Senegal and the Congo.\u00a0 Because they do not fall into this mold, there will likely be additional alienation. This factor, combined with others such as competition for employment and lack of public policies designed to aid the integration of immigrants into Brazilian society, have likely contributed to these hostile reactions.\u00a0 The state of S\u00e3o Paulo, whose development (including scientific and technological) has benefited so greatly from immigration, is in a strong position to offer a more constructive response.<\/p>\n