Apr 22, 2010

Puerto Rico invalidating all birth certificates

A law enacted by Puerto Rico in December, mainly to combat identity theft, invalidates all previously issued Puerto Rican birth certificates on July 1.

That means more than a third of the 4.1 million people of Puerto Rican descent living in the 50 states must arrange to get new certificates.

Puerto Rico's legislature passed the law after raids last March broke up a criminal ring that had stolen thousands of birth certificates and other identifying documents from several different schools in Puerto Rico.

As much as 40 percent of the identity fraud in the U.S. involves birth certificates from Puerto Rico, McClintock said he was told by the State Department.

More here.