Puerto Rico has already seen 19 homicides so far this year, continuing a so-called "sense of impunity and lawlessness" that Resident Commissioner Jennifer González-Colón wants to end.
In a Wednesday letter to Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen, González-Colón detailed a longstanding history of "drug-related murders" in the U.S territory. As the island's only non-voting House representative, she is asking for increased "technical assistance and law enforcement resources" to curb the problem, she said in the letter.
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González-Colón went on to ask Whitaker and Nielsen for a breakdown of their departments' resources devoted to Puerto Rico. She also invited the department heads to Puerto Rico "to ensure the federal government is successful in securing our nation's Caribbean border." The letter comes just hours after the FBI's top official in Puerto Rico declared a "crisis of violence" in the territory, per CBS News.
Read all of González-Colón's letter below. Kathryn Krawczyk
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