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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Pierluisi Discusses His Proposed “Caribbean Border Initiative” on the House Floor

Washington, DC - Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi today discussed his proposed “Caribbean Border Initiative” on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in an effort to convey to his congressional colleagues the urgent need for the federal government to allocate additional resources to combat drug-related violence in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“American citizens in the Caribbean are facing a security crisis. While the national murder rate has declined in recent decades, the number of homicides in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands remains unacceptably high. Since 2008, the murder rate in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands has been about five times the national average and about twice as high as that of any state,” said Pierluisi in his speech.

The Resident Commissioner explained that most of the murders committed in Puerto Rico and the USVI are linked to the drug trade. Pierluisi also noted that, in response to questions he posed, Attorney General Holder recently called drug-related violence in Puerto Rico and the USVI a “national security issue” that “we must confront.”

According to briefings provided to the Resident Commissioner’s office, 70 to 80 percent of the cocaine that enters Puerto Rico is then transported to the U.S. mainland. Accordingly, Pierluisi observed, “this is a problem of national, not simply regional, scope.”

“Our nation has devoted considerable resources to confront drug gangs operating along our Southwest border—and rightfully so. Yet, Puerto Rico’s murder rate is four to five times higher than any Southwest border state. And, since 2008 the Island has received less than one fifth of the funding that the federal government has provided to combat the drug trade and associated violence in Mexico and Central American nations,” said Pierluisi.

The Resident Commissioner insisted that “the number of authorized positions at key federal law enforcement agencies in Puerto Rico is too low, the number of vacancies is too high, and interdiction assets like planes and boats are in short supply.”

“Since taking office, I have urged the federal government to devote resources to Puerto Rico at a level commensurate with the severity of the problem it faces. Specifically, I have asked the White House drug czar to establish a Caribbean Border Initiative, modeled after the successful Southwest Border Initiative. The time for half measures and piecemeal efforts has passed. What is needed, instead, is a well-planned, well-funded, well-executed, government-wide strategy that will encompass all federal agencies charged with fighting drug trafficking and related violence,” said Pierluisi.

The Resident Commissioner stated that the challenge that Puerto Rico currently faces is similar to the one the Island confronted in 1994. Pierluisi was Puerto Rico’s Attorney General at that time, and lobbied successfully for Puerto Rico and the USVI to be federally designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which contributed to a significant reduction in the Island’s violent crime rate.

“The problem has evolved over time, and the federal response must evolve along with it. I will not rest until it does,” said Pierluisi.