Thread: Is Sotomayor the Daughter of Immigrants?

Jennifer's Immigration Issues Blog
By Jennifer McFadyen, About.com Guide to Immigration Issues

Is Sotomayor the Daughter of Immigrants?

Thursday May 28, 2009

President Barack Obama recently named Federal Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed by the Senate, which Obama wants completed before the Senate adjourns in August, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and the third woman ever to serve on the nation's highest court.

Sonia Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, where her parents moved to from Puerto Rico during World War II. The Supreme Court nominee has been identified as the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, which has raised quite a debate in the blogosphere.

Is Sotomayor the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants? Major media sources including Reuters, The Washington Times, and About.com's own Conservative Politics Guide have used the term, but it is not correct to identify them as immigrants.

People born in Puerto Rico have been American citizens since the passing of the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917. Sotomayor's Puerto Rican parents did not immigrate to New York, they migrated as U.S. citizens from one part of the country/territory to another. They did not have to obtain a visa to travel to New York or go through any other type of immigration process. Yet major media outlets identify Sotomayor's parents as immigrants, and some bloggers, such as Liza at Culture Kitchen give a compelling argument why the Puerto Rican experience of moving to the U.S. is one of emigration, not migration.

Where do you stand on the divide? Do you think it's fair to call Sotomayor the daughter of immigrants? We know that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but is the Puerto Rican experience so different from the rest of the U.S. that moving from the Commonwealth feels like moving from a foreign country? I'd like to hear your thoughts on the issue.

Link to Jennifer McFadyen's Email, together with FAQs:
http://immigration.about.com/mpremail.htm

http://immigration.about.com/b/2009/05/ ... grants.htm

Well lets see, if they are immigrants and came without a visa, then they were illegal immigrants and Sonia is an anchor baby.

Also if they are immigrants, then nobody born in Puerto Rico should be considered a US Citizen.

people from Puerto Rico ARE united states citizens because the island
is a US territory. Lots of hispanics from mexico and central America hate this

Correct. Puerto Ricans don't need to get a visa to live in the U.S.

What many people don't know is that there are groups in the PR who oppose the U.S.

I believe there was one or more attempts on U.S. presidents lives by PR nationals.

Why we keep it as a territory I don't know. It is an expense we don't need.

Originally Posted by Steve

Correct. Puerto Ricans don't need to get a visa to live in the U.S.

What many people don't know is that there are groups in the PR who oppose the U.S.

I believe there was one or more attempts on U.S. presidents lives by PR nationals.

Why we keep it as a territory I don't know. It is an expense we don't need.

Well used to be the US had a Navy base and bombing range in the PR islands. But protesters shut it all down, so yes why do we keep it now? I don't know.