How migration transformed Martha’s Vineyard
"Today, Martha’s Vineyard – summer retreat for the likes of Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Spike Lee and now the Obamas – depends on thousands of Brazilians to do the hard labour. Unlike earlier influxes, these newcomers are mostly illegal (estimates are as high as 70 per cent); but until recently, their efforts were welcome and their legal status largely ignored. The immigrants build, garden and scrub the summer residents’ trophy homes – so that they can build their own trophy homes back in Brazil. Nobody, including the immigrants themselves, expected them to put down roots on the island.
But that’s what they did. An estimated 3,000 Brazilians live on Martha’s Vineyard, a considerable presence on an island with a winter population of 15,000 (rising to 100,000 in the summer). For the most part, the Brazilians have created a parallel society."
DANIELA GERSON in the Financial Times.
Reporting for this story was supported by funding from the Institute for Justice and Journalism.