1945-1964: THE GREAT MIGRATION

After World War II, the U.S. government develops programs to showcase Puerto Rico's relationship with the U.S. as a successful model of industrialization, modernization and democratic rule. Government officials blame the Island’s poverty and economic problems on “overpopulation.” They construct a range of population control policies that target the poor such as the export of contract labor, the sterilization of women, and the mass exodus of Puerto Ricans from the Island.

Migration is used as an economic development tool to transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy dominated by U.S. capitalists. Puerto Rico's government actively promotes and manages migration out of the Island and sets up a New York City office under the name Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Migration Division.