PUBLIC FUNDING OF SOCIAL BENEFITS FOR IMMIGRANTS IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This article examines, from the perspective of financial law, the disconnect between the universality of social rights guaranteed to immigrants by the Constitution of Brazil and the Migration Law (Act no 13445, 2017) and the instruments that structure their public financing. It posits the hypothesis of the immigrant’s budgetary invisibility, insofar as budgetary planning instruments and the criteria for the federal distribution of revenues ignore the presence of the migrant population. The effectiveness of these rights depends on fiscal improvisations, such as the extraordinary appropriations that funded Operation Welcome, and the burden of reception falls asymmetrically on the destination states, as demonstrated by the case of Roraima. Based on a review of the literature and documentary research, this study proposes three mechanisms to realign the budget with the constitutional promise: the creation of specific budget line items for migration policy; the establishment of mandatory and automatic compensatory transfers to overburdened entities; and the revision of the general criteria for revenue distribution.