Thread: Puerto Ricans Immigrating To United States Mainland in Record Numbers

Puerto Ricans Immigrating To United States Mainland in Record Numbers
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7:08 PM 08/11/2014

Ariel Cohen

As the immigration debate heats up on Washington, legislators seem to be overlooking the largest group of Hispanics coming to the United States.

According to a Pew Research poll released on Monday, Puerto Ricans are immigrating to the United States mainland in a number unseen since the Great Migration following World War II.

Today, Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic origin group living on the American mainland, with over 36 million living in-country in 2013. Between 2010 and 2013, 144,000 more Puerto Ricans left the U.S. territory for the mainland than left the mainland for the island, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This record gap between immigrants and migrants is higher than it was during the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s.

The number of Puerto Rican moving to the mainland has increased dramatically since the turn of the millennium, with only 1.3 million living in the United States in 2000 and over 3.6 million living in the United States in 2013.

Since 2012, Puerto Rico has experiences record unemployment and low labor force participation rates. According to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “Puerto Rico’s economic progress has stalled: The island has been operating below its potential for some time and the competitiveness of the economy continues to deteriorate.”

But fiscal reasons aren’t the only thing propelling Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland

Among the Puerto Ricans who left, 42 percent cited job-related reasons for moving stateside, 38 percent gave family-related reasons. This compares pretty equally to immigrants from foreign countries over the same time period, 41 percent of whom cited job-related reasons and 29 percent migrating for family reasons. Mexican born immigrants are the most likely to cite job-related reasons, with 62 percent of immigrants coming to the United States for fiscal opportunities, and only 25 percent moving for family-related reasons.

The majority of Puerto Ricans who immigrate to the United States settle in the Northeast or the South, with 50 percent and 30 percent of immigrants settling in those respective regions.

Despite the revet growth, the U.S Puerto Rican Population is expected to decline in the coming decades.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/11/pu...#ixzz3A8sKfnGR

14 people charged with trafficking identities of Puerto Rican US citizens

Thu, 2014-08-14 01:28 PM

Charges against 14 individuals were announced this week regarding three indictments in Puerto Rico for conspiracy to commit identification fraud, money laundering, aggravated identity theft, and passport fraud in connection with their alleged roles in a scheme to traffic the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and their corresponding identity documents, according to the Department of Justice.

The multi-count indictments were returned by a federal grand jury August 6. Since that time, five of the defendants have been found and arrested (four in Puerto Rico and one in Florida). They will be arraigned in federal court this week.

Arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining defendants, who will make their initial appearances in federal court in the districts in which they are arrested.

According to the indictments, from at least July 2008 to April 2014, conspirators in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, sold the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens, corresponding Social Security cards, Puerto Rico birth certificates, and other identification documents to illegal aliens and others residing in the U.S.

Specifically, the indictments allege that individuals located in the Caguas, Rio Piedras and San Juan areas of Puerto Rico (suppliers) obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents. Conspirators in various locations throughout the U.S. (identity brokers) solicited customers for those identities and documents. The identity brokers allegedly sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from $700 to $2,500 per set.

According to the indictment, the identity brokers ordered the identity documents from the suppliers by making coded telephone calls, including using terms such as “shirts,” “uniforms” or “clothes” to refer to identity documents. The suppliers generally requested that the identity brokers send payment for the documents through a money-transfer service to names provided by the suppliers. The conspirators frequently confirmed payee names and addresses, money transfer control numbers and trafficked identities via text messaging. The suppliers allegedly retrieved the payments from the money transfer service and then sent the identity documents to the brokers using express, priority or regular U.S. Mail.

According to the indictments, once the identity brokers received the identity documents, they delivered the documents to the customers and obtained the remaining payment from the customers. The brokers generally kept the second payments for themselves as profit. Some identity brokers allegedly assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves, and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation.

As alleged in the indictment, the customers generally obtained the identity documents to assume the identity of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens and to obtain additional identification documents, such as state driver's licenses.

Some customers allegedly obtained the documents to commit financial fraud, and others attempted to obtain U.S. passports.

The charges announced are the result of Operation Island Express II, an ongoing, nationally coordinated investigation led by HSI Chicago, in partnership with USPIS, DSS and IRS-CID offices in Chicago. This investigation was also coordinated with HSI San Juan. The Illinois Secretary of State Police provided substantial assistance. The HSI Assistant Attaché office in the Dominican Republic, the National Drug Intelligence Center - Document and Media Exploitation Branch and the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2) provided invaluable assistance, as well as various HSI, USPIS, DSS and IRS-CID offices around the country.

This case is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division's Organized Crime and Gang Section, with the assistance of the Criminal Division's Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section and the support of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico.

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