Puerto Ricans are going to flee

[struggle4progress]

By Jay Fonseca and Leo Aldridge
October 3 at 5:13 PM

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The five-hour lines at Puerto Rico’s main airport to get off the island do not make for a good omen ...

... We were waiting for a Marshall Plan, something announcing the rebuilding of Puerto Rico. What we got was more congratulations for his own administration. Instead of showing compassion for the most vulnerable, he went to visit the richest areas of the island ...

Boarding a plane out of Luis Muñoz Marin airport, a usually uneventful affair for Puerto Ricans accustomed to visiting their families on the mainland, has become, after Maria’s devastation, a life-altering event. Puerto Ricans carrying as much luggage as they can tearfully say their goodbyes to their loved ones. They are simply not coming back. And the people they are leaving behind don’t want them to return to what has devolved into a chaotic cocktail of material shortages and, perhaps worse, a dearth of hope.

At the airport, screams of joy, nostalgic tears and pent-up guilt mix when passengers clear the Transportation Security Administration line and reach the departure area. The TSA line is Puerto Rico’s new border, and thousands upon thousands of people want to cross it to escape an island paradise that vanished as soon as the hurricane hit amid bankruptcy and fuel lines reminiscent of the 1973 gas shortage — a cash-only economy, where ice is the most sought-after commodity ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/10/03/puerto-ricans-are-going-to-flee-if-president-trump-doesnt-fix-hurricane-relief/?utm_term=.c2719d281601

[Me.]

1. THey Can Now Vote Their Revenge

[ProudLib72]

2. I was going to say

someone needs to be at the airport when they land to register them to vote.

[bdamomma]

4. they will be going to

Florida too.

[ProudLib72]

17. Yes

I bet one group of registers could set up at each of the larger airports and manage to get 50%+ of the new voters.

[Me.]

10. Exactly

[frazzled]

3. They've already got an invitation to come to Chicago

And they'd be very welcome here (there's an established Puerto Rican community here already).

Of course, the winters are a bit harsh--but it beats hurricane season.

[lunasun]

18. That's right the welcome has been declared in Chicago. Already, about 1,600 Puerto Rican residents

have come to resettle since the devastation
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/mayor-chicago-welcomes-puerto-ricans-fleeing-their-destroyed-homes/
I ate PR food at a restaurant tonight . There is already a community in the city
Also

Twenty-three members of the Chicago Fire Department will travel to Puerto Rico Wednesday with defibrillators, stretchers, communications equipment and other supplies. The delegation will spend 10 days on the island and provide an on-the-ground assessment of resources needed, officials said.

The first supplies to reach Puerto Rico were food, water and baby formula donated by Chicago, Gutiérrez said.

That "speaks volumes" about Chicago's commitment to helping those battered by the hurricane, Emanuel said.

Emanuel called the federal government's response to Hurricane Maria as "totally inadequate, and I'm being gentle with my criticism of it."

[TeamPooka]

21. Can we convince them to change the demo in a Red state like MS?

[Hekate]

5. For over a week I've been predicting that these will be America's first global warming refugees...

Trump's response makes it all but inevitable. What are the Puerto Ricans and Virgin Islanders supposed to do?

The island looks like it's been bombed back to the Stone Age, and Trump makes it all about him and the necessity of kissing his wrinkly orange ass in order to get anything out of him.

[eleny]

13. I so agree

I believe that there's one small Pacific island population that had to look for a new place to inhabit due to slowly rising waters. But no American population has had to emigrate like what will no doubt happen with Puerto Rico. It's almost hard to process that this is actually happening.

And if Trump thinks it'll be an ideal place to rebuild as a wealthy resort island - good luck. Remember when New Orleans was predicted to be bought up for upscale housing? A remodeled city? I haven't heard about that coming to pass. That concept is a non starter in this age of massive icebergs collapsing off Antarctica.

Your reply in this thread ought to be a new thread of its own!

[Hekate]

19. The story of the atolls of the Pacific haunt me. They are so tiny, but have supported a culture...

...for thousands of years in Micronesia and Polynesia. The sea has begun to submerge them -- has been for some years now. They have been the true canaries in the coal mine -- but virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world.

[eleny]

24. Their predicament breaks my heart

But the right wing majority in U.S. government didn't give a darn.

Well, now that the first wave of a million climate refugee voters are legally moving to the mainland they'll have to take notice.

[BigmanPigman]

6. I heard on MSNBC today that about 1 million PR citizens are

going to migrate to other areas of the country like FL.

Climate change is creating many new and increasing changes that vary from migration, to war, to economic collapse, to new epidemics, etc.

[unc70]

7. Lets try to get them to GA, NC, FL, ...

Think what even 10,000 new, mostly Democratic voters could do.

[Brainstormy]

9. Damn right!

I'm already working here in Georgia to help with PR relocation. They will be needed, and welcome, here.

[cwydro]

11. Hispanics generally vote republican.

Research it

[unc70]

14. I have researched. 65-80% Dem for president

The older Cuban American community in Florida mostly votes Repub. Others lean Democratic.

[tblue37]

15. Puerto Ricans are mostly Democrats. nt

[cwydro]

26. If that is true, that's good.

But since they cannot vote in our presidential elections, how do you know that?

The shitgibbon sure got a warm welcome there.

[tblue37]

27. They vote in the primaries. nt

[JI7]

16. No they don't. Only cubans did but even there is a huge age gap

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

20. No. nt

[fierywoman]

12. 10,000 Dem voters who loathe hate and despise IMPOTUS.

[Skittles]

8. that picture

I thought it was Alec Baldwin

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. They'll fix Puerto Rico after Jared buys up property for pennies on the dollar

[Tatiana]

23. I hope they settle quite nicely in areas like Florida, North Carolina and Texas!

I know many are settling in Chicago and New York, but I hope relatives in some red states and open up their hearts to help settle some Puerto Ricans as well.

This could really turn the tide for us in Florida. Especially if we are successful with the gerrymandering case before the Supreme Court.

[MineralMan]

25. If this trend continues to grow, watch for the Trump administration

to try desperately to find a way to stop it. They'll forget that Puerto Ricans are US citizens and are free to travel as they choose, and try to find some mechanism to prevent the influx.

[cwydro]

28. Perhaps he'll try to build a wall.

He's a moron, and he completely does not get the enormity of this.

[MineralMan]

29. More likely, they'll try to use some sort of medical reason

to limit travel from PR to the continental US. Watch for it. Zika? Cholera? Who can say?

[cwydro]

30. Yes, I can believe that.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're having meetings about just that thing right now.

[MineralMan]

31. Yup. A quarantine on PR would be something that might

be proposed. Interestingly enough, The Department of Health and Human Services is without a permanent Secretary right now, following the resignation of Tom Price. The Acting Secretary of HHS is now Don Wright. I don't know anything about him, but will go have a look.