A Great Migration From Puerto Rico Is Set to Transform Orlando
Source: New York Times
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ NOV. 17, 2017
ORLANDO, Fla. Ten intolerable days after Hurricane Maria trounced Puerto Rico, Sahria Garcia finally got a call from her brother on the island. The call lasted three minutes and the news shook her: Her family had lost everything jobs, houses, possessions, cars and had spent days foraging for food, ice and water.
Ms. Garcia, who lives in a small Orlando apartment with her three children, did not hesitate: Dont even ask, Ms. Garcia said she told her brother during their conversation. This is your house.
Last week, they arrived two brothers, their wives and their four children and plopped onto newly bought bunk beds. The family is one small part of a sudden exodus of tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans racing to Florida after Hurricane Maria, a migration so large it rivals those from New Orleans to Houston after Hurricane Katrina and from Cuba to Miami during the Mariel boatlift.
The scale is larger than any previous movement of Puerto Ricans to the mainland, including the wave that arrived after World War II, said Jorge Duany, the director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University and an expert on Puerto Rican migration. Its a stampede.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/us/puerto-ricans-orlando.html
Hekate
(90,714 posts)...with voter registration information.
Just sayin'
juxtaposed
(2,778 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)...here on the Mainland.
nycbos
(6,034 posts)I was about to say time to register some voters.
Doitnow
(1,103 posts)and Dems are at the door getting them all registered to vote. While disaster capitalism is happening for them back home, they can help change the voting patterns here. I hope, as they are getting registered, they are reminded who didn't take care of them in time of need.
tinrobot
(10,903 posts)Maybe Michigan could also accept some hurricane refugees.
sandensea
(21,639 posts)My guess is that he'll go for some form of Crosscheck, given that Puerto Ricans tend to share many of the same last names even if they're not related.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)The Repubs will try more Gerrymandering, not letting them register to vote. But I hope all that can get ironed out, so these people can register. They need to help vote those a_holes out of office.
I hope the Dem Party is on this. These people will need help registering.
lark
(23,105 posts)I am really hoping we get a ton of refugees who are motivated to vote against orange assface and his party and will register and vote blue. Wouldn't that be a large dose of karma if his destructive carelessness to the people of Puerto Rico turned purple FL into a beautiful blue?
Yupster
(14,308 posts)and has dropped every year since then except one year.
This trend has no doubt been accelerated by the storm.
It has been devastating for the island as often the wealthiest, youngest, healthiest have left leaving the rest to shoulder the huge debts of the island. It was a disaster before, now it's a calamity.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)It'll be a while before they can get their lives going again. Moving under the best of circumstances is traumatic. But under these circumstances....just horrible.
I suppose I'm being selfish to realize that....this gives the Democratic Party a push in Florida. They need help registering in their new residences....so they can vote the a_holes who didn't provide funding and power repair to PR.....OUT.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Republicans in Congress will surely call for extreme vetting and testing in English language ability. No, wait, Donald Trump couldn't pass a fourth grade test in English, so maybe skip that last part.
I know the lefties are gonna say, "But they're already American citizens." Yeah, but they are not white Americans. Different rules apply for non-white Americans. Just ask any African-American if he can openly carry a firearm.
Steve Bannon must be having a fit over this.
jcmaine72
(1,773 posts)Florida will hopefully go blue from here on out thanks to unfortunate but necessary internal migration.. Next, we need to do everything possible to thwart der Trumpenfuhrer's racist immigration policies and start doing our part by taking in more refugees and immigrants from Africa and the ME.
1) It's not fair to our European allies that they should have to do all the heavy humanitarian lifting as far as the ongoing refugee crisis is concerned. We should be utterly and completely ashamed of ourselves that Germany is leading the way in this crisis instead of us. After all, aren't we supposed to be the leaders of the so-called "Free World"??
2) Resetting millions of Somalis, Syrians, Sudanese etc immigrants in the South and Midwest and giving them a path to citizenship will help combat the racism and cultural backwardness of these areas and help make them permanently blue as well.
If reThugs can use gerrymandering and Russian hackers to help scew elections in their favor, why can't we as Democrats use our basic humanitarianism and compassion to help win a few for us?
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)Who have family members from PR living with them while looking for permanent housing.