At Least 8 Migrants Die Off Puerto Rico

[Judi Lynn]

At Least 8 Migrants Die Off Puerto Rico
Associated Press
December 4, 2004

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A boat carrying at least 91 Dominican migrants apparently trying to reach Puerto Rico illegally capsized Friday, killing eight people, officials said.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 83 people and found eight bodies after the 40-foot boat overturned Friday morning in rough seas off northern Puerto Rico, said Lt. Eric Willis, a Coast Guard spokesman. Authorities were still searching for possible survivors.

A police boat first spotted the migrants and notified the Coast Guard hours before the boat capsized, said Julio Pantoja, the chief of Forces United for Rapid Action, a Puerto Rican special police force. He said the migrants turned back after seeing the police, who were unable to pursue because of the stormy seas.

Willis said the boat capsized after it was spotted by a Coast Guard plane and tried to circle back and make a second attempt to reach land. Two Coast Guard cutters and a helicopter were sent to the scene and managed to rescue most of those on board, he said.

The number of migrants trying to reach the U.S. Caribbean territory has surged over the last two years, with most coming from the Dominican Republic. Dozens have died trying to make the perilous journey.
(snip/...)

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,FL_migrants_120404,00.html

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It's good for people to recognize there are other migrants trying to get to a better place ALL OVER this hemisphere. A lot of people who don't read much imagine they are all Cubans. A few more realize this includes Haitians. Some see Mexicans, Colombians, Guatemalans, etc. as people trying to get here to "steal our jobs."

Why are some "fleeing," (noble) and some trying to "steal our jobs?" Why do many Americans see all of them, other than Cubans as being worthless?

[flordehinojos]

1. Are these migrants (or immigrants) who are seen as "trying to steal our

jobs" rather than as "fleeing " simply being SCAPEGOATED upon by AMERICANS, NEWT GINGRICH AMONG THOSE LEADING THE PACK, because if they (the migrants) were not there to be scapegoated upon, then we, the Americans, would have to look at the reality of our government and we might not be too happy with where our government is taking our country, and we might have to do something about it? The migrants give us an excuse to blame all our ills onto.

It is easier to scapegoat than to self examine. I think that under the Clinton era -- and up until the New Gingrich revolution, we Americans looked at those migrants (who are usually brown skinned) with more compassion than we ever do today. Also, and because these migrants are usually brown skinned, i wonder if, in addition to scapegoating them so as not having to look at our government and those corporations who might be braking certain rules, Gingrich lashed out at them for their brown skin, somethign that might have been coming from his white supremist underpinnings. He, I recall, said at the time that one of his favorite books was Mein Kampf. (sp?)And he, after all, did not lash out at those migrants from white european countries... in fact, those migrants were pretty much welcome by the Gingrich gang in those days.