My maternal grandfather was a marshall in San Gérman, Puerto Rico for 40 years. My mother worked as a correctional guard here in New York City. One of her brothers was an undercover cop until the day he died and two of his sons now work for different police forces in the island. One of my cousins is married to a cop.

I know first-hand the kind of good and evil Puerto Rican cops do day in and day out. Corruption is just what it is in the banana republic owned by the United States. And yet ... and yet ... there's moment when their good policies, if not deeds, just blow me away.

Such is the case with this bit of news I saw in Primera Hora, one of the online newspapers of the island. It has to do with how the kidnapping of a local girl uncovered a kidnapping business that's been going on between gangs and mafias in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic:  Rapto de menor destapa esquema de secuestros a dominicanos en la Isla - Primerahora.com (My translation is in boldface):

“Los secuestros son más común de lo que tú crees y todo el mundo lo sabe, pero al que hable lo liquidan”, dijo una mujer que prefirió no ser identificada y que visitaba el colmado Caramelo del sector Hill Brothers, comunidad habitada principalmente por dominicanos.
("The kidnappings are more common than what you and everybody else knows; but whoever talks is killed", said the woman who preferred not to be identified. She was visiting the Caramelo bodega in Hills Brothers, a neighborhood where the majority of residents are Dominicans.)

La fémina alega que hay varios modus operandi y que en ocasiones las gangas locales operan en conexión con pandillas de la República Dominicana.
(The woman alleges there's several modus operandi and that there are times when local gangs operate with the help of gangs from the Dominican Republic.)

“Son personas que quieren hacer dinero fácil y se aprovechan de dominicanos como yo que estamos en la Isla diciendo que tienen secuestrados a familiares allá y que tenemos que darle dinero a una persona en Puerto Rico. Otras veces, como el caso de la nena, los secuestran acá mismo”, agregó la mujer que dijo no reconocer a los secuestradores de la niña de 13 años, que fue raptada el miércoles pasado mientras se disponía a caminar desde su casa hacia la escuela intermedia García Cepeda de Sabana Llana.
("They are people who want to make easy money and they take advantage of Dominicans like me by telling us they've kidnapped relatives over there and that we have to give money a person here in Puerto Rico. There's other times, like with the case of the little girl, they kidnap them over here", added the woman. She said she didn't recognize the kidnappers of the 13 year old girl; who was snatched last Wednesday while walking from her home to García Cepeda Middle School in Sabana Llana.)

Afortunadamente, la menor —que es boricua, pero de padres dominicanos— fue rescatada 56 horas más tarde en una casa en el barrio Buena Vista de Bayamón y desde entonces es custodiada junto con su madre por la Policía.
(Fortunately, the minor —who is boricua but from Dominican parents— was rescued 56 hours later in a house in the Buena Vista neighborhood of Bayamón. Since then she has been taken into police custody along with her mother.)

If you read Spanish, you would benefit immensely from reading the whole article. First off, not once is the term "illegal immigrant" used in the article. On the contrary, "indocumentados" is strewn across it several times.

Also, look at that last sentence I emphasized: The girl, who is Puerto Rico born and hence a citizen of the United States, was not separated from her mother. She was not taken into custody and thrown into a detenton camp for "illegal immigrant children" or for that matter, the mother was not thrown into an ICE jail and separated from her daughter. On the contrary, both of them are being protected by the Puerto Rican police equally and without regard for their immigration status. All what the PRPD cares about is that they were victims of a crime and are due equal protection under the law.

Which is why there's never even a mention as to what's the immigration status of her parents. They are always referred to by their ethnicity —as dominicanos— and the newspaper just leaves it at that. This is absolutely important because there's no "judge and jury" by calling them "illegal immigrants". More importantly, it assumes a level of respect for the rights and privacy of the victims involved. It also accords dignity for immigrants as equal to any other US passport carrying human being.

I grew up in Mayagüez, which is on the western-most part of the island. One of our first neighbors in the town was the ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Every day there were news of a marooned dingy or boat found on the shores of our town. Every day in Puerto Rico there's not one or two but several bodies found on the western shores of our island, of Dominicans and Haitians trying to come undocumented into the island either to join their families or to hop through us to the United States.

It should not be normal for a Puerto Rican or for anybody to expect to see a dead body on our beaches, but it is what it is.

Migrant rights are Human Rights. The way this article was crafted shows how for us Puerto Ricans this is one of the most important issues of our country. It's why I'll continue going blue in the face, reminding the "comprehensive immigration reform industry" that Puerto Rico needs to be front and center of this debate.