Reply #109: Info. on Dominicans drowning trying to get to Puerto Rico.From whom

[Judi Lynn]

are they "fleeing?" They do this WITHOUT the reward of so many inducements given the Cuban immigrants at the end of their journey, like instant legal status, green card, social security, U.S. taxpayer-funded Section 8 housing, food stamps, medical care, financial assistance for education, etc.!

Factual Background for

PRECINCT PUERTO RICO: BOOK ONE
At the core of PRECINCT PUERTO RICO: BOOK ONE is a shipwreck. Dozens of undocumented immigrants from the Dominican Republic drown in a failed attempt to reach shore on Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island whose residents are all American citizens. The incident in the novel is a fictionalized depiction of a tragedy that occurs all too often in real life.

In January 2001, Yves Colon of The Miami Herald reported that "as many as 53 migrants from the Dominican Republic were missing and presumed drowned…after their boat capsized." Three survivors had been rescued, and they each claimed to have paid $4,000 to be ferried across the Mona Passage between the two islands.

In March of 2000, 10 bodies were recovered but as many as 30 others were lost when their boat was "dashed apart by the waves" (Manuel Ernesto Rivera, AP). Earlier that same year, 16 bodies were recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Dominican navy after another sinking. In this case, the boat had nearly arrived at Puerto Rico when its engines died. The currents pushed the boat back towards the Dominican Republic. An unknown number of victims were missing.

The one constant in all these stories, and in many others like them each year, is the uncertainty of the numbers involved. No source knows for sure how many boats attempt the journey across rough seas each year or how many passengers they carry. Of those missing, no one knows how many eventually make it to shore safely and how many drown.
(snip/...)

http://www.steventorres.com/ppr_one.html