Brazilian Numbers Climb

Every tax is a pay cut. Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

Brazilian Numbers Climb 08/19/2001

Thanassis Cambanis 508-820-4233 Boston Globe

In this numbers game, it's anybody's guess how many Brazilians are living in Framingham. The stakes are high, with social services and grant money following the newest immigrant populations in the state; but Latino community leaders have responded with skepticism to claims that 150,000 Brazilians live in Massachusetts, 20,000 of them in Framingham.
"I think all groups have inflated their figures," said Argentina Arias, a Puerto Rican who works for the Framingham Coalition for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. "The Irish did the same thing, then the Latino community, now the Brazilian community."
According to the US Census supplementary survey released this month, Massachusetts has from 25,000 to 36,000 residents of Brazilian ancestry - more than four times as many as the 7,483 counted a decade ago.
Brazilian community leaders and the consul general in Boston, however, said they believe at least 150,000 Brazilians call the Commonwealth home.
Until final 2000 US Census figures on ancestry are released next year, the actual number of Brazilians in hubs like Framingham will remain in question. Even then, according to advocacy groups like Framingham's Brazilian Community Association and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, census figures will undercount Brazilian immigrants.
"We don't exist. We're invisible," said Zelita Vieira, Brazilian outreach coordinator at the Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council and president of the Brazilian Community Association. New immigrants often don't answer official surveys, because they do not have legal status in the United States and fear discovery by immigration officials, she said, echoing a common argument among advocacy groups.
Policy makers use population estimates to make decisions about health care, bilingual education, and funding for social services.
According to Arias, minority groups have a vested interest in claiming high numbers. When she moved here 30 years ago, she recalled, community leaders claimed there were 12,000 or more Latinos in Framingham. According to 2000 Census data, about 7,000 Latinos live in town.
Now, she said, the more established Latino community looks askance at the notion of 20,000 Brazilians living in Framingham, which has a total population of 66,910.
"The tension is that for a long time the largest minority group in town was Latinos, and now the other community says they are the largest group," Arias said. "But I don't think the Latinos feel jealous of the Brazilians."
Local government officials and police credit Brazilian entrepreneurs with kick-starting Framingham's moribund downtown and driving crime from the area. Virtually every third storefront in Framingham Center - from restaurants to food markets to furniture stores to travel agencies - has a Brazilian flag hanging in the window.
"The taste of Brazil is everywhere," remarked Police Chief Steven Carl.
More than 10 percent of the school's population last year, or 892 students, listed Portuguese as their first language, and assistant superintendent William McClennen said most of those were Brazilian. Five schools have Portuguese bilingual programs.
"Before, the Latinos were a larger group. It was all Spanish," said Vieira, who became a US citizen last month. "Now attention goes to the Brazilians and their needs. The Brazilians work hard. The Latinos don't open as many businesses. I think sometimes this makes some tension."
Brazilians began arriving in Eastern Massachusetts in the 1980s. They established core communities in Framingham, Marlborough, Hopkinton, Milford, Hudson, and Somerville.
A typical story is that of Elizabeth Bayless, who moved to Framingham in 1987 and opened a house-cleaning business. She then brought her daughter from Brazil to join her. "At the time, she was the fourth Brazilian student at the high school," Bayless said.
Her daughter, Eula Torres, graduated in 1994 and now helps Bayless run the cleaning business, which employs 35 people. Torres is married and has three children of her own.
"I'm very proud to be here, and I love America," Bayless said. "We did wonderfully in this country."
The last decade's wave of Brazilian immigrants differs starkly from the Latino immigration that changed Framingham's landscape in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of those new arrivals came from Puerto Rico with US citizenship, and could therefore enter the mainstream work force.
Many Brazilians, on the other hand, arrive as undocumented immigrants and initially seek work that doesn't require a Social Security number. Those who succeed tend to start their own small businesses and employ other Brazilians.
The Brazilian community in the state has thrived because of its entrepreneurial bent, said Mauricio E. Cortes Costa, the consul general of Brazil in Boston. And because Brazil itself is a multiethnic society, its immigrants assimilate with greater ease and less friction than other newcomers, he said.
"We Brazilians have a way of harmonizing and integrating," Cortes Costa said. "There is no conflict that you might see with other immigrant origins who don't wish to get integrated."
The Boston consulate opened in 1993 in response to swelling numbers of immigrants from Governador Valadares, a city in the province Minas Gerais with close historic connections to the United States because of a once-thriving mica mining industry there.
Long lines at the consulate - and the high demand for monthly mobile consular services in Framingham - testify to a real population figure much higher than census estimates, Cortes Costa said.
While as a group the estimated statewide population of 150,000 Brazilians has done well, he added, immigrants still face serious obstacles. Without a Social Security number, they can't obtain a driver's license. And noncitizens don't have equal access to higher education in the Commonwealth, depriving Brazilians of opportunity to fully contribute to community life, Cortes Costa said.
Framingham - which boasts the greatest concentration of Brazilians in the state - has historically attracted immigrant populations, first Italians and Irish, then Latinos, and in the last two decades Brazilians and Asians.
Although police have documented little outright discrimination or violence against immigrants, Karen Barrata, Framingham's director of community relations, said some landlords take advantage of immigrants.
"I get a lot of calls about rent increases that are legal but might not be fair, and I hear reports about lots of people crowded into apartments paying huge rents," Barrata said. "They're undocumented, so they're afraid to say anything because their landlords might report their immigration status."
As the Brazilian community in Framingham gains clout, its leaders have more vocally demanded services such as interpreters at local hospitals.
Nonetheless, the debate over the number of Brazilians here is sure to continue even after next year's full census numbers come out.
"If you think you have 20,000 Brazilians in town, where are they are living?" Arias said, pointing out that affordable housing stock in Framingham has barely grown over the last decade.
"You have to be realistic," said Cesar Monzon, the US Census official responsible for the count in Framingham and its environs. Estimates based on school enrollment, birth and death rates, and business presence point toward Brazilians' forming roughly 5 to 10 percent of the town's population, or 3,300 to 6,600, he said.
Such guesses don't deter Vieira. "It's not realistic. The number is low," she said. "A lot of Brazilians live here who don't want to answer the census questions."

Brazilian Numbers Climb	08/19/2001
Thanassis Cambanis 508-820-4233	Boston Globe
In this numbers game, it's anybody's guess how many Brazilians are living in Framingham. The stakes are high, with social services and grant money following the newest immigrant populations in the state; but Latino community leaders have responded with skepticism to claims that 150,000 Brazilians live in Massachusetts, 20,000 of them in Framingham. "I think all groups have inflated their figures," said Argentina Arias, a Puerto Rican who works for the Framingham Coalition for the Prevention of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. "The Irish did the same thing, then the Latino community, now the Brazilian community." According to the US Census supplementary survey released this month, Massachusetts has from 25,000 to 36,000 residents of Brazilian ancestry - more than four times as many as the 7,483 counted a decade ago. Brazilian community leaders and the consul general in Boston, however, said they believe at least 150,000 Brazilians call the Commonwealth home. Until final 2000 US Census figures on ancestry are released next year, the actual number of Brazilians in hubs like Framingham will remain in question. Even then, according to advocacy groups like Framingham's Brazilian Community Association and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, census figures will undercount Brazilian immigrants. "We don't exist. We're invisible," said Zelita Vieira, Brazilian outreach coordinator at the Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council and president of the Brazilian Community Association. New immigrants often don't answer official surveys, because they do not have legal status in the United States and fear discovery by immigration officials, she said, echoing a common argument among advocacy groups. Policy makers use population estimates to make decisions about health care, bilingual education, and funding for social services. According to Arias, minority groups have a vested interest in claiming high numbers. When she moved here 30 years ago, she recalled, community leaders claimed there were 12,000 or more Latinos in Framingham. According to 2000 Census data, about 7,000 Latinos live in town. Now, she said, the more established Latino community looks askance at the notion of 20,000 Brazilians living in Framingham, which has a total population of 66,910. "The tension is that for a long time the largest minority group in town was Latinos, and now the other community says they are the largest group," Arias said. "But I don't think the Latinos feel jealous of the Brazilians." Local government officials and police credit Brazilian entrepreneurs with kick-starting Framingham's moribund downtown and driving crime from the area. Virtually every third storefront in Framingham Center - from restaurants to food markets to furniture stores to travel agencies - has a Brazilian flag hanging in the window. "The taste of Brazil is everywhere," remarked Police Chief Steven Carl. More than 10 percent of the school's population last year, or 892 students, listed Portuguese as their first language, and assistant superintendent William McClennen said most of those were Brazilian. Five schools have Portuguese bilingual programs. "Before, the Latinos were a larger group. It was all Spanish," said Vieira, who became a US citizen last month. "Now attention goes to the Brazilians and their needs. The Brazilians work hard. The Latinos don't open as many businesses. I think sometimes this makes some tension." Brazilians began arriving in Eastern Massachusetts in the 1980s. They established core communities in Framingham, Marlborough, Hopkinton, Milford, Hudson, and Somerville. A typical story is that of Elizabeth Bayless, who moved to Framingham in 1987 and opened a house-cleaning business. She then brought her daughter from Brazil to join her. "At the time, she was the fourth Brazilian student at the high school," Bayless said. Her daughter, Eula Torres, graduated in 1994 and now helps Bayless run the cleaning business, which employs 35 people. Torres is married and has three children of her own. "I'm very proud to be here, and I love America," Bayless said. "We did wonderfully in this country." The last decade's wave of Brazilian immigrants differs starkly from the Latino immigration that changed Framingham's landscape in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of those new arrivals came from Puerto Rico with US citizenship, and could therefore enter the mainstream work force. Many Brazilians, on the other hand, arrive as undocumented immigrants and initially seek work that doesn't require a Social Security number. Those who succeed tend to start their own small businesses and employ other Brazilians. The Brazilian community in the state has thrived because of its entrepreneurial bent, said Mauricio E. Cortes Costa, the consul general of Brazil in Boston. And because Brazil itself is a multiethnic society, its immigrants assimilate with greater ease and less friction than other newcomers, he said. "We Brazilians have a way of harmonizing and integrating," Cortes Costa said. "There is no conflict that you might see with other immigrant origins who don't wish to get integrated." The Boston consulate opened in 1993 in response to swelling numbers of immigrants from Governador Valadares, a city in the province Minas Gerais with close historic connections to the United States because of a once-thriving mica mining industry there. Long lines at the consulate - and the high demand for monthly mobile consular services in Framingham - testify to a real population figure much higher than census estimates, Cortes Costa said. While as a group the estimated statewide population of 150,000 Brazilians has done well, he added, immigrants still face serious obstacles. Without a Social Security number, they can't obtain a driver's license. And noncitizens don't have equal access to higher education in the Commonwealth, depriving Brazilians of opportunity to fully contribute to community life, Cortes Costa said. Framingham - which boasts the greatest concentration of Brazilians in the state - has historically attracted immigrant populations, first Italians and Irish, then Latinos, and in the last two decades Brazilians and Asians. Although police have documented little outright discrimination or violence against immigrants, Karen Barrata, Framingham's director of community relations, said some landlords take advantage of immigrants. "I get a lot of calls about rent increases that are legal but might not be fair, and I hear reports about lots of people crowded into apartments paying huge rents," Barrata said. "They're undocumented, so they're afraid to say anything because their landlords might report their immigration status." As the Brazilian community in Framingham gains clout, its leaders have more vocally demanded services such as interpreters at local hospitals. Nonetheless, the debate over the number of Brazilians here is sure to continue even after next year's full census numbers come out. "If you think you have 20,000 Brazilians in town, where are they are living?" Arias said, pointing out that affordable housing stock in Framingham has barely grown over the last decade. "You have to be realistic," said Cesar Monzon, the US Census official responsible for the count in Framingham and its environs. Estimates based on school enrollment, birth and death rates, and business presence point toward Brazilians' forming roughly 5 to 10 percent of the town's population, or 3,300 to 6,600, he said. Such guesses don't deter Vieira. "It's not realistic. The number is low," she said. "A lot of Brazilians live here who don't want to answer the census questions."

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