I'm currently reading Run Baby Run, an autobiography by Nicky Cruz. Mr Cruz is a former New York City gang leader who became a Christian minister.
In the first chapter, in which he describes how he got from Puerto Rico to New York, he writes:
It is the practice of many Puerto Rican families to send their children to New York when they are old enough to take care of themselves. Six of my older brothers already had left the island and moved to New York. All were married and trying to make a new life for themselves.
Nicky was 15 in 1955 when he was sent to New York to live with one of his brothers.
My question is: Why were Puerto Rican families sending their children off the island, and why New York?