Immigration and the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: impacts, policies and governance

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges for international migration flows within the Global South. In the case of Brazil, different immigration and emigration flows coexisted over the first two years of the pandemic, forcing the State and subnational governments to formulate and adopt new public policies to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic. Thus, this research analyzes these dimensions from the case study of cities in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, with a research methodology of comparative studies. Subnational and national policies that have been adapted by these local governments will also be discussed, namely: a) access to health services; b) income transfer through the Emergency Aid (Auxílio Emergencial); c) vaccination against the COVID-19. Preliminary results point to a fragmented and non-aligned governance of cities in relation to state and federal governments, as well as different impacts - and their mitigation - among groups of immigrants and refugees.