Byen venu, Uai!: An Analysis of the Demographics and Labor Market Integration of Haitian Migrants in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area Shane Michael Landry1 Prof. Dr. Gisela Patricia Zapata Araújo2 Prof. Dr. Alisson Flávio Barbieri3 Keywords: Brazil, Haiti, international migration, Haitian migration, Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, labor market, demographic profile, Brasil, RMBH, Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, migração internacional, migração haitiana, mercado de trabalho, perfil demográfico. 1 Demógrafo, mestre em demografia pelo CEDEPLAR, UFMG e graduado em relações internacionais pelo American University. 2 Professora Adjunta e Pesquisadora do Departamento de Demografia, CEDEPLAR, UFMG. 3 Professor Associado e Pesquisador Departamento de Demografia, CEDEPLAR, UFMG. Abstract In recent years, Latin America has witnessed ever-increasing intraregional migration flows in the context of growing political and economic integration and the tightening of migration policies in the developed world. Despite the rising importance of Haitian migration to Brazil over the past decade, few studies have explored the characteristics of Haitian migration to the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area (RMBH), the third largest urban agglomeration in Brazil. This study seeks to fill these research gaps by: i) providing a comprehensive demographic profile of the Haitian migrant population in the RMBH, ii) analyzing the evolution of their labor market integration over the past eight years, and iii) investigating the role and characteristics of their migration motives, routes, connections with their place of origin, and/or employment- related connections and support. This analysis was conducted by triangulating data from three sources: the Centro Zanmi, an NGO that assists Haitian migrants in the RMBH; SINCRE, obtained from the Brazilian Federal Police; and the Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), obtained from the Brazilian Labor Ministry. The findings of this study are pertinent due to the reemergence of international migration in the Brazilian sociopolitical agenda and the necessity to improve public policies concerning the socioeconomic integration of this new flow of international migrants. Introduction Historically, migration flows between Haiti and Brazil have been miniscule, with the 2010 Brazilian Census enumerating just 36 Haitians. However, following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, small groups of Haitian migrants began arriving at the Brazilian border in Acre and Amazonas. Within the span of a year, this migration flow increased substantially, with 4,000 Haitian migrants estimated to have arrived in Brazil by the end of 2011 (CASTRO, FERNANDES, AND RIBEIRO, 2014, p. 2). New Haitian migrants’ pace of arrival accelerated so quickly that, by the end of 2016, more than 70,000 Haitian migrants were living in Brazil (BORGES, 2017, p. 32; OBMigra, 2017, p. 46). More specifically, concerning Haitian migration to the RMBH, while Haitian migrants began to arrive in the RMBH en masse only in 2013, Minas Gerais, and the RMBH in particular, currently rank as one of the preferred destinations of settlement for Haitian migrants, following the Southern Region of Brazil and the state of São Paulo. Although Haitian migration to Brazil has slowed over the course of 2017 and 2018, Haiti has quickly become the most significant source of migration to Brazil, surpassing more traditional migration flows from both neighboring and developed countries, such as Bolivia and Portugal, respectively. The reasons behind the sudden increase in Haitian migration to Brazil are uncertain and complex. Explanations encompass Brazil’s leadership role in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) from 2004 onward, a booming Brazilian economy in need of cheap labor, and a simultaneous increase in migration restrictions in the neighboring Dominican Republic, and in other traditional developed country destinations for Haitian emigration, such as the U.S., Canada, and France, which were also mired in economic crisis at that time. Furthermore, Brazil’s administrative response to this migration flow greatly facilitated Haitian migration to Brazil through its policy of granting Haitian migrants humanitarian visas.45 In this context, this study seeks to accomplish three main objectives: 1) to create a general demographic profile of Haitian migrants residing in the RMBH; 2) to evaluate the degree of labor market integration of Haitian migrants living in the RMBH; and 3) to investigate how migration flows from Haiti to the RMBH fit within the existing literature with a particular focus on the reported motives for migration, ties with migrants’ places of origin, migration routes, and other forms of social and/or employment-related connections and support. Reflecting upon these objectives raises a number of questions in regard to the characteristics of Haitian migrants residing in the RMBH. This study investigates the following hypotheses: 1) a greater length of residence in Brazil should be correlated with higher salaries and a more elevated chance of being employed in an area corresponding to migrants’ professional qualifications; 2) higher levels of educational attainment should be associated with increased salaries and a greater chance of being employed in an area corresponding to migrants’ educational attainment; 3) differences between the employment outcomes of male and female Haitian migrants will be observed; and 4) more recent migration flows should show a greater percentage of women due to the increased importance of family reunification as a motive for migrating. Methodology Data analysis was conducted by triangulating data from three different sources. The first database was obtained from the Centro Zanmi, the principal NGO 4 CNIg Resolution 97, passed in January 2012, authorized the Brazilian consulate in Port-au-Prince to grant 100 humanitarian visas per month to Haitian migrants. 5 CNIg Resolution 102, passed in April 2013, removed these numerical restrictions, while enabling Brazilian consulates in neighboring and transit countries to issue humanitarian visas. that provides assistance to migrants in the RMBH, of whom the vast majority are Haitians. This dataset spans from 2013, when the Centro Zanmi opened, to April 18, 2017. During this time period, 1,638 individual Haitian migrants residing in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area were registered as seeking assistance at the Centro Zanmi, and, of these migrants, 1,190 were men and 448 were women. A major advantage of the Centro Zanmi data is its ability to capture a wide-range of variables not included in formal government-collected databases. This research examined a total of 16 variables furnished by the Centro Zanmi, with this paper focusing specifically on the variables sex, age, educational attainment, migration status, year of entry into Brazil, city of residence in the RMBH, motives for migration, previous place of residence or destination before the RMBH. The second data source was derived from the Sistema Nacional de Cadastro e Registro de Estrangeiros (SINCRE). This database consists of an accumulated stock of all migrants who have registered with the Brazilian Federal Police in Belo Horizonte between January 2000 and November 2015, containing a total of 1,499 individual Haitian migrants, of whom 1,102 were males and 397 were females. As all documented migrants are required to register with the Federal Police within 30 days of their arrival in Brazil, this database should provide a broad sample of Haitian migrants residing in the RMBH, given that almost all Haitian migrants in Brazil are documented. This study examined a total of nine variables furnished by the SINCRE database with this paper focusing on the variables sex, age, city of residence, profession, UF of Entry into Brazil and year of arrival in Brazil. The final data source is the Relação Anual de Informações Sociais (RAIS), spanning the years from 2002 to 2015. RAIS is a database maintained by the Labor Ministry (Ministério de Trabalho), which contains information that must be furnished annually by all persons holding a CNPJ (Brazilian corporate taxpayer identification number), and all establishments which possess a Cadastro de Empresa Individual (CEI). RAIS gathers information on workers’ nationalities, allowing the researcher to focus specifically on the formally employed Haitian migrant population in the RMBH. In 2015, there were a total of 1,447 formally employed Haitian migrants working in the RMBH, of whom 1,238 were males and 209 were females. The 2015 RAIS database obtained by the researcher contains a total of 76 variables; however this study focused on nine key variables, with this paper discussing the variables sex, age, educational attainment, CNAE occupational division, nominal average monthly salary, and length of residence in Brazil. Results and Discussion Demographic Profile In order to accomplish the objective of creating a comprehensive demographic profile of the Haitian migrant population in the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Area, several different personal attributes were investigated, with the results for variables most pertinent to this study, specifically, sex, age, and educational attainment. This study also examined the migration and residency profile of Haitian migrants in the RMBH, with a specific focus on their migration/visa status and how its evolution over time, in addition to migrants’ principal cities of residence within the RMBH. The sex breakdown of Haitian migrants residing