By Elisa Spagnollo
According to the Pew Research Center, across the United States, an estimated 170 to 230,000 Brazilians live without legal status. In Philadelphia, no official data separates those who are documented and those who aren’t. But based on national estimates, hundreds, possibly more than a thousand Brazilian in the city may be living without legal state. Behind these numbers are individual journeys of people who decided to leave Brazil in search of opportunity, stability or simply a different future.
Published May 4, 2026