Panel: “Immigration and Puerto Rico Today"

During the week of the 24th of March, the English Department of the College of General Studies of the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, presented a conference titled “Student Interventions in General Studies: Interdisciplinary Projects and Creative Initiatives”. This conference mainly consisted with different presentations and panels from students currently taking English courses in the university. One of the most interesting and controversial panels was titled “Immigration and Puerto Rico Today”, which exposed the point of view of immigrants that move to Puerto Rico just to study and receive an education at the University of Puerto Rico.

This panel was supervised by professor Petra Avillán and consisted of two students originally from the Dominican Republic and currently taking the intensive English course at the University of Puerto Rico. They discussed the social, political, cultural and economic issues that immigrants –especially from the Dominican Republic– have to face due to the xenophobia that many locals feel toward foreigners. The students also shared their personal experiences, and how difficult it’s for an immigrant to feel accepted and respected in Puerto Rico. It’s very unfair for Dominicans to be discriminated against, especially due to the fact that the Dominican Republic is right next to Puerto Rico, and both countries share similar traditions, cultures, beliefs, customs, and even the same language. Some immigrants just move to Puerto Rico looking for a better life, yet they face issues and obstacles that make it hard for them to become successful in the island.

The most shocking story came from one of the students, when she shared the experience of her participation in a beauty pageant. Although she was clearly representing Puerto Rico on the show, one judge told the student that she basically didn’t win because she was Dominican. I was infuriated when I heard this because sometimes people tend to be extremely ignorant, especially in Puerto Rico where xenophobia against Dominicans is widely seen, and I believe it’s completely unfair to judge others according to their nationality or ethnicity. These comments are present in our everyday lives, which we can constantly hear on derogatory jokes against Dominicans. This story was absolutely necessary, and I believe more immigrants should speak out and make their voices be heard.

Finally, I genuinely admired their courage for speaking out in the panel, and exposing such a sensitive topic in front of a huge audience in a language they’re recently starting to learn. Although they’ve been taking intensive English for a year, I was quite impressed with their ability to speak and write so coherently. At the end of the presentation, both students offered real solutions regarding this social issue in the university, and the audience completely understood the difficulties of being a foreigner in Puerto Rico.