A sweet American dream

As summer gives way to fall, traffic is still backing up every morning at Five Corners in Vineyard Haven. Valerio and Sonia Destefani are up early, peering out from the window of Sweet Bites, the bakery they’ve owned and operated for the past eight years. They’ve watched this busy Island crossroads, where Range Rovers with New York plates vie for a lane with pickup trucks stacked with the ladders and tools of those who work in the trades. They’ve seen workmen commuting at dawn with lunchboxes on the early ferries from Falmouth and New Bedford. They’ve observed day laborers looking for work by the Cumberland Farms parking lot, tourists on bikes, and Island families shuttling their children to school. 

From all directions and from all walks of life, the Sweet Bites bakery has offered them a window on a changing Island where so many of those who pass by are part of the hard-working Brazilian workforce that supports the cleaning, construction, landscaping, and service industries on the Vineyard. Brazilians toil and struggle every day to carefully navigate a perilous path as immigrants. They are the force driving the economy of Martha’s Vineyard.

And within this immigrant population that has so transformed the Island, Valerio and Sonia Destefani stand out as an extraordinary story of success. Their three children went through the Martha’s Vineyard school system, and all now have families of their own. Their oldest son is a civil engineer, their youngest an electrician, and their daughter, Talita, owns and operates the Talita Destefani Beauty Lounge on State Road, a short walk from Sweet Bites. 

But Valerio and Sonia have never forgotten just how hard it has been. They are constantly reminded that they are just two out of the wave of hundreds of Brazilian migrants who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard in the early 2000s. They came in search of economic prosperity, hoping to save enough money to return home and live comfortably in Brazil. In 2009, Daniela Gerson, an academic who studies migration, referred to this phenomenon as a “twist on the American dream”: when Brazilians come to the U.S., they usually expect to return to Brazil in three to five years. But more and more are ending up staying and building lives here, and Valerio and Sonia are within that cohort. 

Arriving on Martha’s Vineyard

As we have been documenting in our series on how a pipeline of immigration from Brazil has changed the Island, the first Brazilian known to have started working on Martha’s Vineyard, Lyndon Johnson Pereira, arrived in 1986, and gradually others followed suit. Among those was Valerio Destefani, who arrived on Martha’s Vineyard in 2000 in search of a short-term opportunity to make enough money to pay off the debt he had incurred from businesses started at home in Brazil. Valerio left Sonia and their three kids behind in the coastal state of Espírito Santo, expecting to eventually return to Brazil. 

Sonia ended up joining him eight months later, leaving their kids in Espírito Santo under the care of her parents. By 2003, they had bought a house in Vineyard Haven (before the 2008 financial crisis, it was easier to pull that off), and soon their kids joined them on-Island. Valerio and Sonia worked at Cronig’s Market for 12 and 14 years, respectively, before Valerio started a Brazilian-style buffet restaurant called Bite on the Go, which had locations in Vineyard Haven and Falmouth. Later they started Sweet Bites, where Sonia served as head baker for eight years. Now, 24 years, three successful businesses, and eight grandchildren after his arrival, Valerio plans on retiring this year at 57.

Valerio and Sonia are among the lucky ones; when one of their sons became a U.S. citizen in 2016, they were able to secure green cards themselves. After five years with green cards (the minimum time requirement to apply for citizenship), the process of gaining citizenship took less than a year. They submitted their applications, paid a small fee, had their fingerprints scanned, and took the Pledge of Allegiance in Faneuil Hall in Boston, in a ceremony that hosted more than 300 immigrants from over 100 countries. Next month, Valerio and Sonia will cast their first votes in a U.S. election.

Valerio and Sonia sold Sweet Bites to a relative just last month, and are entering a new chapter of financial freedom, made possible by their 24 years of hard work on the Island and some very careful steps in navigating immigration laws in the U.S. As U.S. citizens, they are now able to travel freely between the U.S. and Brazil, and they’re planning on spending more time in Brazil to take care of their parents and check in on old friends. It’s safe to say they’ve more than fulfilled the “twist on the American Dream” –– they can afford to live comfortably in the U.S. and Brazil. With record-high housing costs, climbing mortgage rates, and a weakening Brazilian real, it’s hard to imagine the same success story could be told about a Brazilian immigrant arriving on-Island today. The challenges for Brazilians, and frankly the entire year-round population, only seem to be growing. 

Life on Martha’s Vineyard

Living on the Island isn’t always easy, especially as prices continue to rise, and affordable housing becomes increasingly scarce. During COVID-19, people from the mainland capitalized on record-low mortgage rates, and bought out most of the housing stock on the Island. Shared residences that had previously housed laborers were gobbled up by people coming from off-Island, which further limited supply, and pushed out much of the renting workforce. Many Brazilians have turned in their keys and found housing in Falmouth and farther, now commuting to and from the Island daily. 

Still, for most, finding a way to get by on-Island is worthwhile. According to Valerio, “Ninety-nine point nine percent of Brazilians come here for the money.” 

Wages in the U.S. are staggering compared with those in Brazil: in the U.S., a young construction worker can make roughly $60,000 annually (earning $20 per hour on-Island, working 60 hours per week). Net out approximately $30,000 for taxes and the cost of living (housing, clothing, expenses), and they’re left with roughly $30,000. In Espírito Santo, minimum wage yields the equivalent of $3,360 annually. That’s a paltry 5.6 percent of what a typical Brazilian can start out earning on Martha’s Vineyard. And with an exchange rate that’s continuing to weaken, Brazilians in Brazil need to work longer and harder to afford the same goods as their U.S.-based counterparts. 

When comparing the costs of living in Brazil versus on Martha’s Vineyard, relative to the average monthly salary, it’s easy to see why Brazilians are making the trek. 

One young man working at Vineyard Grocer in Vineyard Haven indicated that the price of a bag of rice in his home city of Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, is R$40, the equivalent of USD$7.23. Back home, he worked at a cell phone repair store in Belo Horizonte, and earned R$40 per day. 

According to Valerio, it’s difficult for Brazilians to leave once they’ve settled down on Martha’s Vineyard, given how close the community is here. He says the majority of Brazilians seem to really enjoy living on Martha’s Vineyard; they like the tight-knit community, the feeling of safety, job opportunities, and natural beauty of the Island. And going back to significantly lower salaries in Brazil isn’t appealing for many Brazilians who have grown accustomed to the wages here. On that subject, Valerio noted, “Money is like a mountain you start to climb that never has a peak.” 

A short history of Brazilian migration

Emigration from Brazil was uncommon during the majority of the 1900s; in fact, the country had a reputation primarily as a destination for immigrants from Europe. In the 1950s and ’60s, Brazil had a thriving economy, and was seen as a success story for post-WWII industrialization. 

That story changed in 1973, when, as a result of the oil embargo, the price of crude oil quadrupled worldwide during the Arab-Israeli War. The shock generated major current-account deficits — imports exceeding exports — in Latin American countries that largely depended on oil imports for the functioning of their economies.

In order to finance the deficit, the Brazilian government borrowed from U.S. money-center banks which, at the encouragement of the U.S. government, offered to bridge the gap for developing countries suffering from the oil shocks. As a result, the 1970s saw an unprecedented rise in foreign debt levels –– the total outstanding debt increased more than 12,000 percent between 1973 and 1985. 

When interest rates were hiked globally in an effort to curb inflation in the following years, U.S. banks increased rates on Latin American loans, and shortened repayment timelines. By 1983, international lending had halted, and Brazil, along with 27 other developing nations, began discussions on restructuring debt.

This led to what economists call “the Lost Decade” in Brazil, a period characterized by stagflation — economic stagnation coupled with hyperinflation — and rising unemployment. Poor management by technocrats only worsened the crisis through the decade, and by the late ’80s, inflation had reached 2,950 percent. The weak economic outlook in Brazil prompted its people to travel abroad for higher wages to help support their families.

Why Massachusetts?

Today on Martha’s Vineyard, it’s estimated that Brazilians comprise roughly 20 percent of the year-round population. Yet few people appreciate how the Brazilian population found Martha’s Vineyard as a settlement, and why the number of Brazilians on-Island keeps growing.

A large portion of Brazilian immigrants on the Vineyard are Mineros, hailing from the state of Minas Gerais, and many from the city of Governador Valadares (referred to affectionately today as “Governador Vala-dolares,” poking fun at the inhabitants’ love of the dollar), and migrated to Massachusetts for work. 

Ties between Minas Gerais and Massachusetts actually date back to World War II. During the war, engineers and technicians from Boston were sent to Minas Gerais to mine mica (silicate minerals), to be used for radios and detonators. Upon returning to the U.S., many of the engineers brought their Brazilian employees with them back to Boston. The bonds established between Bostonians and Mineros encouraged others to travel to Boston for school or other types of work. Brazilians were also drawn to Massachusetts because of its strong Portuguese presence, as the Portuguese had settled in Massachusetts during the colonial period.

Over the past four decades, Brazilians have established deep roots in several Massachusetts towns. They typically settle into the most affordable areas, often older industrial centers (many former mill towns), where deindustrialization has left vacant, cheaper housing. Earning relatively low wages by Massachusetts standards, resourceful Brazilians have managed to send remittance flows to their families while simultaneously boosting the economy in the U.S. 

In Massachusetts, Brazilians have left an indelible impact on the economy. In 2021, according to a UMass Boston study, they brought in $3.8 billion in wage income, and their consumer demand supported an additional 26,800 jobs and added $3.3 billion to Massachusetts’ gross state product. Brazilians also reportedly contributed $191.6 million in state income taxes, and $66.6 million in state sales taxes in 2021.

As an example, Framingham, a place that has always had a mix of Italian, Irish, Jewish, and other immigrants who worked in its mills, is now known for its thriving Brazilian population; Brazilian businesses have been credited for revitalizing what had turned into a struggling downtown in the 1980s, when the General Motors plant moved its operations to the South, and the Dennison paper mill shut down. Framingham is now an official sister city of Governador Valadares, which has also received a facelift in recent decades as remittance flows from Brazilians in the U.S. have bolstered local growth. 

While it’s easy to see the impact Brazilians have made on the economy on Martha’s Vineyard, it’s difficult to know how many Brazilians are really living here. Statistics on the number of Brazilians living in the U.S. are unreliable for two main reasons: First, the federal government’s definition of “Latino” used for U.S. census forms (most recently revised in 1997) applies only to people of “Spanish culture or origin,” and Brazilians typically claim Portuguese, African, or indigenous descent. Second, many Brazilians are undocumented.

Immigration today 

Out of the undocumented Brazilian population in the U.S., the majority arrive in the U.S. legally using tourist visas, and overstay their visas to work, making them undocumented. But those unable to secure tourist visas pay “coyotes,” smugglers responsible for trafficking Brazilians across the U.S.-Mexican border. According to an immigration lawyer we spoke to who preferred to remain anonymous, coyotes charge up to $30,000 per trip, meaning many immigrants spend their first few years in the U.S. working just to pay off their debts. Coyotes will also offer discounts of up to $10,000 to Brazilians if they can convince others to cross the border with the same coyote, fueling a dangerous cycle. Stories about coyotes are everywhere on the Island.

For undocumented Brazilians, it’s virtually impossible to return to the U.S. once they decide to leave. Consequently, they’re forced to choose between committing to a life in the U.S. and returning home forever. This means many are separated from their families and friends for decades. 

Still, Brazilians continue to risk their lives to make it here. The Brazilian community on-Island is larger than ever, and the support system is growing; an ever-expanding safety net is making the leap of faith easier for those willing to leave Brazil. The economic impact that the opportunities Martha’s Vineyard offers suggests that the Brazilian population, and its influence on Martha’s Vineyard, could continue to grow for many years. 

And Brazilians create strong bonds on the Island and support one another; Valerio and Sonia passing their bakery business on to relative Lucas Alves is a prime example. 

Lucas Alves, 33, is the son of Valerio’s cousin, and he and his sister, Raquel, 30, are running the business together now. Raquel is managing the day-to-day operations at Sweet Bites, since her brother is busy with the carpentry business he also runs. On a recent morning, Raquel was watching the same crossroads of Five Corners that Valeria and Sonia watched for so many years, and she expressed her enthusiasm for taking over at Sweet Bites, perhaps adding new ingredients, but generally keeping to the same recipe for success. She plans on making changes to the menu heading into the winter, she said, including staying open until 9 pm for churrasquinho (Brazilian BBQ) nights in the future. 

Raquel and Lucas are part of a new generation of Brazilians living on the Island, and they are excited about adding their own ingredients to Sweet Bites and creating their own version of the dream. They say they love the Island and all it has to offer, and they feel fortunate to have built a life here. 

So many of Raquel’s fellow Brazilian immigrants struggle to find adequate and affordable housing; they try their best to learn the English language. They try not to allow the sadness that comes with missing family and friends back home to consume them, and they remind one another to remain vigilant, and avoid anything that could jeopardize their immigration status. 

“It was hard to get here, and it’s hard to stay here, but it is also exciting, because we have opportunities here,” she said, speaking by phone from the car while rushing around on another busy day running the business.

She added, “Most Brazilians live in bad situations. It’s terrible, and I know I am very lucky.”

Anna Louise Gildea, a freelance writer who lives in Martha’s Vineyard and New York City, is fluent in Portuguese, and spent the better part of a year in Brazil’s interior state of Minas Gerais, the birthplace of the vast majority of immigrants to the Island.