By The Star Staff
Terestella González Denton, who is running for mayor of San Juan under the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) banner, said Sunday that since the beginning of her campaign she has been examining the needs and obstacles faced by the immigrant community in Puerto Rico with undefined immigration status in Puerto Rico, including the Dominican community.
The PDP candidate said there are several studies that show that the capital city must be addressing the problem of immigrant communities in a more responsible and proactive manner.
“According to the study Profile, Current Situation and Aspirations of the Dominican Population in Puerto Rico, commissioned by the Technical Studies firm United Way, there is a lack of access to health insurance on the island,” said González Denton, who is also president of the party’s municipal committee in San Juan. “In addition, the study confirmed that there are several factors that make access to education impossible for this population; among these, schedule conflicts between work and school hours.”
“As for health systems, many of these citizens still face problems when seeking medical services for outpatient conditions, operations or long-term illnesses,” the candidate said. “Furthermore, the immigrant population, especially our Dominican brothers, are those with the least access to medical plans in Puerto Rico, according to a study conducted by the Census Information Center of the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus.”
Regarding education, González Denton said that although Puerto Rico offers a free and accessible education system, there are still documentation obstacles that can affect the enrollment of students. She said the island needs to be more flexible regarding the processing of documents so that parents can enroll children or young people who wish to access higher education or university studies.
The mayoral candidate stressed that the housing crisis that persists in the capital city continues to adversely affect the immigrant community as well.
The PDP candidate to SJ's mayoral position should spend more studying and addressing the poor living conditions of poor Puerto Ricans before assisting other groups residing in the country. I don't want to sound insensible to the pain and suffering of our Latin American brothers and sisters, but Puerto Ricans are currently under a live/death situation that if isn't bring under control soon it might mean bigger problems to our country. Additionally, we can't oversee the limited resources that PR have to alleviate the dire conditions of thousands of Puerto Ricans.