PDP secretary general: Commonwealth has power to protect immigrants’ rights
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
By John McPhaul
Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Secretary General Manuel Calderón Cerame insists that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has the authority and the power to protect immigrants from deportation despite the aggressive actions of the federal government to round up and deport individuals with undefined immigration status, mostly Dominicans, from the island.
“We have the power to take cases to court and also to educate immigrants that for instance ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] can’t enter houses without a warrant sworn out before a judge in court,” Calderón Cerame said.
He noted the dedication of the “populares” to protect the rights of immigrants, pointing out that the right to have a driver’s license was passed under the administration of PDP governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla (2013-2017).
“Puerto Rico has a tradition to defend the democratic values and defend what is just,” he said.
“Not only the president [of the party] and resident commissioner [Pablo José Hernández Rivera] but the minority whips of both the House and the Senate [Rep. Héctor Ferrer Santiago and Sen. Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, respectively] have been protecting the rights that exist for immigrants that demand that the order for removal comes from a competent federal court,” Calderón Cerame said. “The jurisdiction of the states and the territories permits the local government to protect everyone’s rights in accord with due process.”
But what do you do with a federal government that doesn’t seem inclined to fully obey due process?
“Puerto Rico has a tradition to defend the democratic values and defend what is just,” the PDP official said, referring again to the passage in the island Legislature of the law that permitted immigrants to have driver’s licenses.
Calderón Cerame said Puerto Rico doesn’t only have historical ties with the Dominican Republic but also with Cubans, Venezuelans, Jamaicans, Panamanians and Costa Ricans who take jobs that Puerto Ricans aren’t disposed to do, such as brick laying and other construction jobs. There is a lack of work manpower, he said, and it is the duty of the Puerto Rican government to protect those people.
So how does the PDP secretary general propose to physically protect immigrants against ICE officials who demonstrate aggressive tactics of the kind that can be seen on the nightly news in Puerto Rico?
He reiterated that the commonwealth has instruments to guarantee the rights of immigrants.
“And as far as public policy goes, we must make sure that this government policy is not a Trumpista policy,” Calderón Cerame said
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