For decades, the territory of Puerto Rico has been an unofficial sanctuary for illegal migrants from elsewhere in the region, such as the Dominican Republic. No longer, say sources on both sides. The Associated Press reports that on Jan. 26 deportation operations in Puerto Rico were ramped up, resulting in the arrest of more than 200 people, 149 of whom were from the Dominican Republic. As a consequence, says Jose Rodriguez, the president of the Dominican Committee of Human Rights, local migrants are “panicking.” “They’re afraid to go out; they’re afraid to take their children to school.”
In an interview with Fox News, the Heritage Foundation’s Lora Ries says illegal migrants have long taken advantage of the perceived safety of island territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam:
These localities allow them to open bank accounts, give driver’s licenses, allow them to open businesses, it’s just facilitating and prolonging this illegal immigration. And then, of course, the immigrants, the aliens, if they are put into removal proceedings by ICE, then they use that as a shield, a defense, saying, “You can’t deport me because I’ve been here so many years, and I have a business here, and I have these financial ties.”
Recent ICE raids like the ones in Puerto Rico have exploded that sense of protection, she says. Now, illegal migrants in anywhere on US territory face the same potential consequences as those on the mainland.
Some migrants settle down on their island refugees, put down roots and start businesses. Others are merely looking for a convenient temporary stop-over, from which to engineer the final leg of their journey to the big prize, the mainland.
Ries says in the case of such island “sanctuaries,” ICE must contend with some of the same obstructions they face in various localities elsewhere in America, where “jurisdictions have severely limited cooperation with federal authorities and prioritized illegal migrants over their native citizens.” She continues:
It’s the same thing. It’s local officials not cooperating with federal agents, or local officials dedicating very limited resources and time and attention to illegal aliens rather than their own constituents. They need to do a better job representing their citizens to giving their resources to citizens.
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