More than 34,000 illegal immigrants entered Brazil during the first half of 2026

Cubans lead asylum requests

One of the main changes recorded in recent periods is the increase in the arrival of illegal Cuban immigrants. During 2025 and the first half of 2026, Cubans surpassed Venezuelans and became the largest group of people entering Brazil irregularly.

In just the first six months of this year, 20,400 people from Cuba were recorded. This figure places the Cuban population at the forefront of entries and marks a change in the composition of the main migratory groups arriving in the country.

Brazil recorded the entry of 34,346 illegal immigrants between January and June 2026, mainly from Cuba, Venezuela, and Haiti, according to data from the International Migration Observatory (OBMigra).

This number adds to a migration phenomenon that has intensified over the last decade: since 2016, 548,204 undocumented individuals have entered the country seeking asylum.

The state that concentrates the majority of these movements is Roraima, located in the far north of Brazil and close to Venezuela and Guyana. Over the last decade, the region received around 331,000 immigrants, a figure equivalent to 60% of the total entries recorded nationwide.

This occurs in a context where the Brazilian dictator Lula da Silva has been harshly criticized, both in his country and throughout the region, for facilitating the mass entry of illegal immigrants into Brazil.

At the same time, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, the presence of thousands of Moroccans has been reported, some of whom have already begun to move around the region and even attempted to enter Argentina illegally.