Advertisements for immigration services line the streets of Governador Valadares.
Photographer: Ana Caroline de Lima/BloombergTrump’s Deportations Upend a Town at Epicenter of Brazilian Migration
The economy of Governador Valadares runs on sending migrants to the US, legally or not. Now it’s bracing for a grim homecoming.
Hundreds of miles from the Atlantic coast and any international airport, a sleepy town in the Brazilian hills reigns as the South America nation’s main exporter of people.
The streets of Governador Valadares are lined with travel agencies, advertising immigration services. Signs for shops and language schools are emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes. Gangs of coyotes who help smuggle migrants operate out of the shadows, capitalizing on dreams of reaching US soil.