Between Restrictive Migration Governance and the Renewal of Social Participation by Immigrants: An Assessment of the Ii Comigrar

The contemporary dynamics of international migration in Brazil have been marked by measures that reinforce the securitization of migration management. "Directed migrations" express a direct control by the State and the Armed Forces over mobility, resulting in significant barriers to migrant autonomy and to their social mobilization and participation. In this context, the II National Conference on Migration, Refuge and Statelessness, the II Comigrar, revealed, on the one hand, historical difficulties faced by immigrants and refugees in accessing citizenship and, on the other, highlighted new inequities in access to public services and unequal treatment by the Brazilian State. This article aims to deepen reflections on the participation of the Migration Observatory in São Paulo (NEPO/UNICAMP) in the II Comigrar, particularly in the preparatory stage, which consisted of local discussions with immigrants and refugees, and to provide a critical assessment of the national stage of the Conference, held in Brasília from November 8 to 10, 2024. The methodology includes a literature review on concepts such as migrant social participation and migration networks—key to understanding the different contexts of mobilization for the Conference—and an analysis of the reporting materials produced on the pre-local discussions carried out by the Migration Observatory in São Paulo during the preparatory stage of the II Comigrar, as well as the Conference's Final Report. The Migration Observatory in São Paulo conducted 11 local discussions in the cities of São Paulo and Campinas, involving more than 200 immigrants of over 20 different nationalities (notably Haitians, Bolivians, Peruvians, Paraguayans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Afghans, and Syrians) between February and March 2024, and participated in the final stage of the Conference. The preliminary results of this ongoing research indicate, among other points, a decline in immigrant social participation in the country, the emergence of new social actors, and the growing politicization of migration in Brazil.