The United States is a sovereign nation: it has power over its laws and decisions. The U.S. Constitution is the law of the land, and the government of the nation is created by people who vote for their president, senators, representatives, and state and local leaders.
The states of the union also have their own sovereignty. Each state makes its own laws for everything that is not laid out in the U.S. Constitution or conflicting with federal law, including the languages they speak, their election processes, tax laws, and more. The leaders of the states, like the leaders of the nation, are elected in a democratic process.
Foreign countries also have their own sovereignty as independent nations.
As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico does not have its own sovereignty. It is outside of the U.S. democratic process but also not a foreign country.
An unacceptable situation
The people of Puerto Rico have made it clear that they are not satisfied with the current situation. The United States is built on the principle of government by the consent of the governed. Yet, because of the Territorial Clause in the U.S. Constitution, Puerto Rico can’t unilaterally change the relationship. Congress must take responsibility. It is the U.S. that will need to move Puerto Rico towards sovereignty to get out of the current colonial arrangement.
The U.S. can do this is one of two ways: independence or statehood.
Independent countries are sovereign nations. They have their own citizenship and national laws. Event the three nations with Compacts of Free Association with the United States are all independent countries recognized by the United Nations, with their own national laws and citizenship.
U.S. states are also sovereign. They are part of the U.S. democratic system and must live under the U.S. Constitution, but they also enjoy separate sovereignty. They have their own constitutions and control over the laws that apply just to their state. They have their own state court systems. This is why elections, education, adoption, taxes, and so many more aspects of life are different from one state to another.
So which way to turn?
Either statehood or nationhood will result in a sovereign Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has voted for statehood four times. That is, in every status vote held during the current century, statehood has been chosen by a majority of voters. Claims that Puerto Rico needs self-determination ring hollow when the Island has already made that determination through multiple democratic decisions.
There are occasional voices of concern over the possibility of statehood. Sometimes losing an entry to Miss Universe pageants or fear of taxes come up in these discussions, it is the fate of U.S. citizenship that is actually a greater concern if Puerto Rico were to change its relationship with the U.S.
In a new state of Puerto Rico, all people born there would be citizens of the United States as well as the state of Puerto Rico, as promised in the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” So all U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico would also be citizens of Puerto Rico as well as the United States.
A new Republic of Puerto Rico would make its own laws about its own citizenship. The new country could determine who is a citizen of Puerto Rico and who is not, but it would have no control over who is or is not a citizen of the United States.
Citizenship
U.S. citizenship would be secure if Puerto Rico were to gain sovereignty through statehood but not if Puerto Rico were to become sovereign as a new nation. A sovereign nation with a Compact of Free Association would not change Puerto Rico’s status as an independent county, and the federal government has made it clear that universal dual citizenship for residents of a nation of Puerto Rico is not in the cards.
The issue of U.S. citizenship is important to Puerto Rico voters.
What the voters say
The plebiscites in 2012, 2017, 2020, and 2024 had four different structures, but statehood has had the majority every time.
If the people of Puerto Rico seek sovereignty, as it appears to be now and historically, the path to that sovereignty and the reform of the undemocratic arrangement that U.S. now has with Puerto Rico points to statehood.
