A sad day, inequality and injustice. These are the words found by Cyntia de Paula, representative of the Brazilian community at the National Council for Migration and Asylum, about the changes in immigration law. “It’s an inequality, it’s very unfair, it privileges people who have more financial resources, such as highly qualified people”, he explains to DN Brazil.
In the Brazilian’s view, this is a “punishment” for workers. “It’s a punishment, a clear penalization of the working class as a whole. This only harms the lives of working people who already face many challenges in terms of dignity at work”, says Cyntia, who is also vice-president of Casa do Brasil.
For the counselor, the most serious situation is that of family reunification. “It’s an injustice, because it divides people to have the right to reunite with their families based on the type of residence permit the person has is highly unfair”, he points out. The new law provides that immigrants with golden or highly qualified visas can carry out family reunification at any time, as well as couples with children – an adaptation of the law following the ruling by the Constitutional Court (TC).
The Brazilian also sees the change in the title of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) “very negatively”. “Regularizing themselves in a state of national territory will place many people in an irregular situation and will clearly create serious problems in terms of guaranteeing their rights”, he predicts.
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The immigrant also highlights the way the legislative process was conducted and the myths that can be created. “The entire process, the entire discourse, even the words chosen to address this issue, created very, very wrong ideas about migrant people”, he laments. “Even a clear attempt to hold migrants and the entry of migrants responsible for the country’s structural problems”, he adds.
According to Cyntia, immigrants “are not responsible for the housing problems, the health problems, the problems with public services as a whole”. According to the counselor, this speech “creates a very difficult situation for us immigrants”, especially at a time of hate crimes, such as racism and xenophobia. “I would like to be here commenting on the measures that the Government created for integration, to guarantee equality, to combat precarious employment, to improve public services, which would also affect migrant people, but we are commenting on the choice to roll back a law to take away people’s rights, instead of investing in public services as a whole”, he highlights.
With the promulgation of the law, all that remains is publication in the Official Gazette (DRE) and it will come into effect the following day. Check out a complete guide to the changes below: