C-SPAN caller wants to know why U.S. isn’t vetting people coming here from Puerto Rico
NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten has to explain that Puerto Rico is part of the United States.
“I would like to ask the guest what his opinion of the migration that is coming from Puerto Rico right now, due to their financial chaos. A thousand Puerto Ricans a week, not considered immigrants but coming to the United States as U.S. citizens with no vetting. And that just seems like something that’s not being discussed.”
[su_center_b]
“Well the reason it’s not being discussed, and you alluded to it in your question, is cause they’re not immigrants.” Gjelten said. “Puerto Rico is not a state, but Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.”
Gjelten noted similar questions were raised during during the Great Depression when migrants fled the southern Dust Bowl in record numbers seeking economic refuge in California, or when African-Americans headed to major cities “where there were more employment opportunities.”
[su_revc]
[su_facebook]
