Are Dominicans taking yolas back from Puerto Rico?

donP

Newbie
Dec 14, 2008
6,942
178
0

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,370
3,150
113
Last year there was an article in one of the Dominican newspapers about the amount of Dominicans leaving PR. All a Dominican has to do is go to the Dominican consulate and ask for a carta de ruta and the Dominican government immediately buys for them a one way ticket to any Dominican airport that has a direct flight from PR or wherever. They can even enter the DR without a passport as the carta de ruta is more than enough.

More Dominicans are probably leaving PR for mainland USA.

The illegal yola traffic to PR has also decreased considerably, and most of the people the US Coast Guard is stopping in those endevours tend to be Cubans and Haitians, especially Haitians. Not many years ago most of the people that attempted to enter PR via yolas from DR was Dominicans.
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
You can travel with an ID between US territory, don't you? There's no clearing immigration.

ID, sure. What ID do illegals have?

Passengers 18 years of age or older are required to have a valid, current U.S. federal or state-issued photo ID that contains name, date of birth, gender, expiration date and a tamper-resistant feature for travel to or from a U.S. Territory (Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Expired documents are not accepted. The following IDs are accepted:

U.S. passport
U.S. passport card
DHS "Trusted Traveler" cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
U.S. Military ID
Permanent Resident Card
Border Crossing Card
DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
Drivers' licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by a Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent) that meets REAL ID benchmarks (All states are currently in compliance.)
A Native American Tribal Photo ID
An airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
A Registered Traveler Card (that contains name, date of birth, gender, expiration date, and a tamper-resistant feature)
A foreign government-issued passport
Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) card
Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)


U.S. Territory Travel Document Requirements | United Airlines

Which of these do illegal Dominicans have in PR? The foreign issued passport?
 

Aguaita29

Silver
Jul 27, 2011
2,618
271
83
ID, sure. What ID do illegals have?

Passengers 18 years of age or older are required to have a valid, current U.S. federal or state-issued photo ID that contains name, date of birth, gender, expiration date and a tamper-resistant feature for travel to or from a U.S. Territory (Guam, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands). Expired documents are not accepted. The following IDs are accepted:

U.S. passport
U.S. passport card
DHS "Trusted Traveler" cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
U.S. Military ID
Permanent Resident Card
Border Crossing Card
DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
Drivers' licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by a Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent) that meets REAL ID benchmarks (All states are currently in compliance.)
A Native American Tribal Photo ID
An airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
A Registered Traveler Card (that contains name, date of birth, gender, expiration date, and a tamper-resistant feature)
A foreign government-issued passport
Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) card
Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)


U.S. Territory Travel Document Requirements | United Airlines

Which of these do illegal Dominicans have in PR? The foreign issued passport?

I have traveled in US Domestic flights in which they have asked for either a Passport OR a Photo id for boarding. It didn't matter if the id was in Spanish or from another country. So I guess this has changed.

I do know someone who was illegally in NY who traveled by plane regularly among cities in the US. He was there on an overstayed visa.
 

Jaime809

Bronze
Aug 23, 2012
1,152
0
36
I have traveled in US Domestic flights in which they have asked for either a Passport OR a Photo id for boarding. It didn't matter if the id was in Spanish or from another country. So I guess this has changed.

This is slowly changing to require a passport of some kind, even for travel within the US. This is because some states do a ****-poor job of identifying people for drivers' licenses and state IDs. It also doesn't help that many states will allow a simple swap of DL when you move there, under the premise that the original state vetted the identity of the DL-holder prior to issuance.
 
Last edited:

Africaida

Gold
Jun 19, 2009
7,775
1,341
113
I have traveled in US Domestic flights in which they have asked for either a Passport OR a Photo id for boarding. It didn't matter if the id was in Spanish or from another country. So I guess this has changed.

I do know someone who was illegally in NY who traveled by plane regularly among cities in the US. He was there on an overstayed visa.

Flying domestic and to US territories is very different for non US citizen. PR is known to be a point of entry for Dominicans, so they watch closely. I was picked for a secondary inspection in PR in my travel there. No undocumented would take the risk to fly to PR.

Flying domestically in the US will never require a passport, many Americans don't have one. Passport is for international travel. No country in the world requires its citizen to hold a passport to travel within its border. That is why many states makes it much harder for foreigners to get state ID and driver license.
 

Aguaita29

Silver
Jul 27, 2011
2,618
271
83
I once took a flight San Juan-Chicago, just cause the ticket was cheaper, I did show my passport but there were no extra security measures.
 

Africaida

Gold
Jun 19, 2009
7,775
1,341
113
I once took a flight San Juan-Chicago, just cause the ticket was cheaper, I did show my passport but there were no extra security measures.

Those checks are random, but I happen to be good with randomness (I just can't seem to work on Powerball) :laugh:
It only happened to me twice, but I flew many times to PR.
 

islandhopping

New member
Nov 11, 2014
208
0
0
The few Dominicans I met in PR are pleased to work, but prefer to live in their homeland. They cite higher cost of living, in the San Juan area people can be a little rude. A rude attitude is prevalent with large cities in the world. I wouldn't call it rude, more like detached.

Some of the Dominicans who remain in PR aren't happy.
 
Apr 7, 2014
2,293
2
0
Flying domestic and to US territories is very different for non US citizen. PR is known to be a point of entry for Dominicans, so they watch closely. I was picked for a secondary inspection in PR in my travel there. No undocumented would take the risk to fly to PR.

Flying domestically in the US will never require a passport, many Americans don't have one. Passport is for international travel. No country in the world requires its citizen to hold a passport to travel within its border. That is why many states makes it much harder for foreigners to get state ID and driver license.
About 4-5 years ago all Puerto Rican birth certificates were invalidated and then officiated by the State. In PR a birth certificate is needed for everything but most of them were issued by municipalities and safehoused by churches, schools and hospitals. If an illegal wanted a new identity all they had to do was break into the place where the records were stored. And that was what they did. Once you have birth certificate you have a name then you can get ID. Hospital records have social security numbers with them.

If you re lucky you find the certificate of a deceased child or a person in prison, because they have no recorded existence after a certain point in time.

But now all birth certificates are issued by the State and people have to prove who they are.
 

keepcoming

Moderator - Living & General Stuff
May 25, 2011
4,734
2,492
113
I am about as "gringa" as you can get and I have traveled through Puerto Rico and always get asked for my passport when going through Puerto Rico. My son who looks just the total opposite hardly if ever is asked for his passport, just ID. Just goes to show you how different ones experience can be.
 

Berzin

Banned
Nov 17, 2004
5,898
550
113
Good post, Commander. Then you have all those Puerto Rican drug addicts who would sell their own mothers for a five dollar bag of dope selling their identities or those of their children to Dominican illegals.