Nicholas Godfrey Period 8: Puerto Ricans coming to the United States at a record rate

Summary: Puerto Ricans are coming to the mainland United States at a rapid rate. In one year, Puerto Rico lost 2% of its population. In 2014, 86,000 people left Puerto Rico to move to the US and only 20,000 came back to Puerto Rico resulting in a net migration of 1.8%. That would mean that about 230 people left the comm per day, about the amount of two airplanes. These people are fleeing from the island due to Puerto Rico being an economic abyss. They've been deep in debt for the past decade with high levels of unemployment and not much opportunity for the younger generations. Its easy for people to leave the island because there are more Puerto Ricans on the mainland United States than on the island itself. Most Puerto Ricans moved to New York City in the 50's but for about the past decade, Florida has been the main area that they move to. People that were interviewed said that they had come to the mainland for college and can't imagine going back to the island.

Analysis: I had no idea that the economy in Puerto Rico was this bad, so these current events articles are actually helping me a lot. Sorry, that was a side note but still. I do find the rapid rate of people leaving the country very shocking though. The dramatic gap between the cost of living and opportunity of the United States and Puerto Rico is absolutely insane. The United States should be doing something to help them out. I know that they aren't a state, but they are a commonwealth of our nation so we should be doing something to help out. For goodness sakes, we do more for countries across the globe then one right in our backyard who is part of our nation and needs our help. This reminded me of the Irish potato famine that caused a large immigration of Irish people to all come to the United States. This caused an influx of cultures and in the long run influenced our nation for the better, so we can hope that this immigration will cause the same thing. Let's just hope that a certain person doesn't come into power and kick them out.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/02/americas/puerto-rico-exodus/?iid=ob_lockedrail_topeditorial