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Puerto Ricans have new ID deadline
PHILADELPHIA, (UPI) -- Puerto Rico has given those born in the island territory another three months to get new birth certificates, officials said.
The U.S. territory had planned to void all existing certificates July 1 but set a new deadline of Oct. 1 because so many people applied, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.
Angel Cruz, a Pennsylvania state representative from Philadelphia, announced the change in date at a news conference Tuesday. Angelo Falcon, head of the National Institute for Latino Policy, said the government of Puerto Rico did not do enough to inform the 1.3 million people born on the island and now living in the continental United States.
"Obviously, the government of Puerto Rico wasn't prepared. They didn't think this thing through," Falcon said.
Federal officials say Puerto Rican birth certificates had become vehicles for immigration fraud, tax evasion and identity theft -- partly because of a genial custom on the island of giving copies of birth certificates to churches or other organizations, a practice that is now illegal.
PHILADELPHIA, (UPI) -- Puerto Rico has given those born in the island territory another three months to get new birth certificates, officials said.
The U.S. territory had planned to void all existing certificates July 1 but set a new deadline of Oct. 1 because so many people applied, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.
Angel Cruz, a Pennsylvania state representative from Philadelphia, announced the change in date at a news conference Tuesday. Angelo Falcon, head of the National Institute for Latino Policy, said the government of Puerto Rico did not do enough to inform the 1.3 million people born on the island and now living in the continental United States.
"Obviously, the government of Puerto Rico wasn't prepared. They didn't think this thing through," Falcon said.
Federal officials say Puerto Rican birth certificates had become vehicles for immigration fraud, tax evasion and identity theft -- partly because of a genial custom on the island of giving copies of birth certificates to churches or other organizations, a practice that is now illegal.