Illegal Immigration = PR Birth Certificate Fraud

Today some bad news from New Jersey, as the state’s motor vehicle department declares that it won’t accept birth certificates issued in Puerto Rico due to massive fraud tied to illegal immigration. For any islander, glad for our U.S. citizenship and all the privileges it grants, this is quite unsettling news.  Most Puerto Ricans, not unlike most mainland-born Americans, don’t have a passport.  One of the fundamental benefits of citizenship is our ability to move freely from PR into the US mainland, and from state to state.  This freedom is severely limited if islanders cannot secure a driver’s license because the state (and PRPolNewsBlog imagines NJ will be the first of many other states that will impose the same rule) cannot trust your proof of citizenship – i.e. your birth certificate.

According to the 2000 US Census, New Jersey ranks third in states with the largest Puerto Rican population as a percentage of their total population (4.4 percent) , behind Connecticut and New York.  Wikipedia reports that in some NJ towns,  close  to 30 percent of the community’s population is composed of Puerto Ricans.   For the hundreds of thousands of islanders that have moved to New Jersey, the fact the state requires extra assurances that one is, in fact, an American citizen is problematic not only in terms of getting a driver’s license, but also for getting a job (proof of citizenship required), securing housing, and even hooking up utilities. 

The Problem here, of course, is the very organized efforts by criminals to steal the identities of Puerto Ricans, to be sold to other Hispanics that have entered the country illegally.  Thieves continue to ransack rural elementary schools in Puerto Rico in search of student’s birth certificates to steal and sell (see BBC story).  PRPolNewsBlog understands there is a valid need being addressed by NJ.  And we wish there was a less intrusive way for the state governments to deal with the real problem of stolen identities.  But for now, though, all us Jíbaros lcan do is visit the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration for more information on the law that triggered the need of getting a new, certified birth certificate from Puerto Rico, and the application process.  We completed the process one month ago, and it was easy (although we are still waiting for the new document).

In the meantime, make sure your passport is up to snuff.

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