Puerto Ricans Could Be Newest U.S. Climate Refugees

[yallerdawg]

Hurricane Maria will trigger profound demographic changes for Puerto Rico

Source: Scientific American, by Daniel Cusick and Adam Aton

Hurricane Maria’s destruction on Puerto Rico could spawn one of the largest mass migration events in the United States’ recent history, experts say, as tens of thousands of storm victims flee the island territory to rebuild their lives on the U.S. mainland.

“It could potentially be a very large migration to the continental United States,” said Maria Cristina Garcia, a Cornell University historian, immigration expert, and author on large-scale population shifts, which includes a forthcoming book on climate refugees.

Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, speaking Tuesday on MSNBC, said the islands’ fate is dependent upon the federal government’s willingness to mount a massive relief effort.

“If we have that, we can avoid a humanitarian crisis in the United States. But if we don’t have that, you will see thousands if not millions of Puerto Ricans flocking to the United States, which will cause a demographic severe problem in Puerto Rico as well as in the United States,” Rosselló said.

Read it all at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/puerto-ricans-could-be-newest-u-s-climate-refugees/?utm_source=Fareed%27s+Global+Briefing&utm_campaign=b1e2047a7c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_09_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6f2e93382a-b1e2047a7c-83261917

[unc70]

1. New Democratic voters moving to the southeast

Think of the impact of tens or hundreds of thousands of new mostly-Democratic voters suddenly added in states throughout the southeast. Even 10-20,000 new voters added to NC or GA could really change things. A 100,00 would be seismic!

[awesomerwb1]

2. Thinking very selfishly here...

because the well being of our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters comes first.

But if 500,000 or so people out of the 3.4 million that live in the island moved to the US, maybe to FL and GA, and NC if would cause the reps to crap their pants.

Wherever they go, their well being comes first, but that said I hope not a lot of them choose to go to NY. /political selfishness

[yallerdawg]

3. We could register them to vote...

as they get off the ship in Mobile Bay, ALABAMA in the next couple weeks!

Where they better not stay - Mobile goes underwater, too!


Katrina

[Doreen]

4. Yup, in order to get off the boat they have to register to vote.