The selection of ideal immigrants: Italy, Brazil and ICEM (1950-1962)

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) developed specific programs for targeting, admitting, and hiring immigrants in Brazil. According to the agreement established in the 1950s, all emigrants presented by ICEM had to be approved by the National Institute of Immigration and Colonization (INIC, its acronym in Portuguese) through the work of the Brazilian Emigrant Selection Service, whose headquarters were located in Rome, Italy. ICEM subsidized the largest portion of Italian emigration to Brazil after the Second World War. Brazil, followed by Venezuela, was the Latin American country most favorable to international cooperation in the field of migration, given its incipient participation in ICEM. Therefore, the present project aims to understand the political-diplomatic cooperation between Brazil and Italy and the configuration of immigration policy established in the 1950s, the peak of the entry of Italian immigrants into Brazilian territory and the implementation of bilateral allocation agreements of labor, as well as ICEM's role in directing migratory flows in cooperation with the Brazilian Emigrant Selection Service.