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Puerto Rico American Citizens
Congress is struggling over what to do about illegal aliens coming to the United States from Mexico and Central America yet a huge problem within the Hispanic branch of our own American family is overlooked. Four million American citizens of Hispanic origin struggle in Puerto Rico.
People born in Puerto Rico are American citizens with U.S. passports who have all the rights of citizenship, including dying for their country in the American military — all the rights that is except the right of electing voting Members of Congress or voting for the President. Few “mainlanders” recognize that the U.S. has a colony, which they can visit without a passport and whose residents may freely come to the mainland to visit, work or live permanently without presenting a passport, obtaining a visa or a green card or going through customs when they arrive.
Between 1950 and the mid 1970s, Puerto Rico was considered by many to be a showpiece of economic growth and educational advancement. Since then, however, Puerto Rico’s economy has been stagnant, its standard of living has lagged, and the educational system has virtually deteriorated.
Unemployment persists at 11 percent, and labor force participation (60%) is less than two-thirds the rate in the States, much lower than any OECD country, including Mexico (82%). Nearly half of Puerto Rico’s residents still live below the U.S. poverty line, and the gap in income relative to the mainland continues to widen.
Abogados August 8, 2006 03:32 AM | Hipotecas | Preguntas Para Abogados
