Economic exodus means two-thirds of Puerto Ricans may soon live in US

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) Facing a crisis of monumental proportions at home, tens of thousands of people are fleeing a Caribbean island in search of a better life in the United States only to find hardship and struggle on American shores. Their stories sound like those of millions of migrants – poverty at home, where the economy lies in tatters – but they differ from millions of others: they’re already American.

Unable to pay its $73bn debt, Puerto Rico has begun rationing water, closing schools and watching its healthcare system collapse and 45% of its people living in poverty. Emigration to the mainland has accelerated in recent years, activists say, and data shows that from 2003 to 2013 there was a population swing of more than 1.5 million people.

“This new wave of immigration can be compared with the immigration in the 1930s and 40s,” said Edgardo González, coordinator of the Defenders of Puerto Rico, an activist group. The Great Depression and second world war spurred the so-called “Great Migration”, when tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans moved to New York every year for nearly two decades.

Now most Puerto Ricans are arriving in central Florida, González said, but many cannot find jobs or even housing. “Some might stay with family for a few weeks, but for those who don’t have family, people end up homeless because of the lack of services,” he said. ....................(more)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/puerto-rico-economy-exodus-us-mainland

[randome]

1. Donald Trump: "Build a fucking wall around fucking Puerto Rico right fucking now!"

My apologies to walls, Puerto Rico and the abuse of the noble word 'build'.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[DonCoquixote]

2. A Boricua in Florida chimes in

In many ways, this is the GOP seeing chickens come home to roost. They tried to force the Island to become more friendly to GOP style reforms and banking practices, which of course made more people migrate, and where did they migrate to, Florida, which meant that the GOP lock on the Latino vote ended when Puerto Ricans started moving there. Throw in South Americans affected by GOP policies, Mexicans exploited by rich farmers whose methods are only slightly less brutal and racist than antebellum plantation days, and you have the destruction of the GOP's nastier political machine, the same one that turned Florida into a war zone over Elian Gonzalez. The GOP is mad, especially little Marco Rubio, who has been very pointed about slamming Puerto Ricans, since he is only where he is because he pandered to the Cuban exile political machine. The changing of the guard is a large part of the reason Florida is, contrary to what many think, is a BLUE state. Our only problem is that we have a Democratic party that frankly is more responsible and supportive of the GOP of their own people, thanks to it's leader, good old Debbie "I will kneecap anyone not a Blue Blue Dog" Wasserman Schultz. If Vince McMahon was hired to find people who would pretend to be Democratic candidates to lay down, he could not have found better people. This was shown in the last two gubernatorial races where our candidates (who were shoved down our throats because they were Blue Dogs) only lost by thin margins, where heavy vote tampering was never investigated, but all the same, our candidates could NOT WAIT to concede the election before going back to their cushy lawyer jobs. This is also the same machine that would not give Grayson the time of day.

BTW, Alan Grayson is from ORLANDO, which is where all these Boricuas live. They helped give Florida one of it's rare blue spots. As these immigrants have kids, it will become MORE blue. Pretty soon, even the holdouts in the northern part, aka "lower alabama" will realize they do not control this state anymore.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. Pedro Roselló is a prime example of how we got here. He didn't

do it alone. But that corrupt piece of shit sure loved him some privatization.

[True Blue Door]

3. "two-thirds of Puerto Ricans may soon live in US". They already do.

Puerto Rico is in the United States.

[marmar]

4. I suspect they meant 50 states

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. kick, why isn't this a bigger story?

[davidn3600]

7. Just make it a state