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Gov. Jenniffer González Colón said on Monday afternoon that she will meet with spokespeople from federal agencies in Puerto Rico to discuss, among other issues, the executive order on illegal immigration, which according to some reports was being carried out for a second day by U.S. authorities in the San Juan metro area.
“I have been in talks [with her Energy Committee] during the morning, but this afternoon I have a meeting at La Fortaleza with the federal component to learn the details of what is being done,” the governor said in response to questions from the press.
“Obviously, I am very concerned; the Dominican community is an important pillar in the economy of Puerto Rico, not only in social and cultural terms, so I have requested a meeting with federal authorities,” she said. “The information that I have been given so far is that the arrests that are being made that are part of the executive order at the national level, are not only Puerto Rico, it is the entire nation and they are people who already have a criminal record. However, that is the information, but […] I have a meeting in La Fortaleza with the federal agencies already coordinated to have the details, … what is going to be done. There had been no coordination with the state agencies for those operations that were done yesterday.”
González Colón noted that the situation for Puerto Rico is complicated, since according to the executive order signed by President Donald Trump, any jurisdiction that refuses to cooperate will lose federal aid.
“I do not want to get ahead of myself; there is a teamwork memorandum and there is also an executive order that says that governments that do not cooperate will lose federal funds,” she said. “So I prefer, before issuing […] a statement on that, to have this meeting and see the scope of both executive orders.”
She also insisted that her understanding of the scope of the presidential executive order was that it did not apply to Puerto Rico.
“No one was notified,” the governor said. “This was an instruction that came down in an executive order memorandum to ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and the federal agencies; that is why today I am going to meet with them to discuss it. If you see what is leading to more than 2,000 arrests nationwide that includes Puerto Rico, but if you review the executive order, the president puts a lot of emphasis on the southern border.”
Asked about whether she is going to join the states that sued over the presidential executive order that eliminates U.S. citizenship by birth, she said she is waiting for the opinion of designated Secretary of State Verónica Ferraiuoli Hornedo and designated Justice Secretary Janet Parra Mercado.
Regarding the police commissioner vacancy, González Colón insisted that Col. Antonio López Figueroa remains in office and she is waiting for the person she wants for the position to receive permission from the federal government.
