Educational policies for immigrants and refugees:

welcome network in Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the issue of immigrants and refugees as a challenge for public educational policies, considering that these can be tools to minimize discrimination and support social integration. After the introduction, we­ present a mapping of the reality of immigrants in Brazil and, in a more detailed way, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and outline their profile. Then, we address two distinct but complementary approaches: integrative public education policies and education for citizenship and inclusion. In addition, we make considerations about the role of the Public Defender of the Union in the Rights Education aimed at the empowerment of the immigrant and the refugee as a definitive factor for their real reception. In the final considerations, we underline the relevance of the migrants’ social and cultural capital as generator of new values ??for the context that welcomes them.