All of the rights and responsibilities under the U.S. Constitution would fully apply to Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico if Puerto Rico were to become a state.
As an independent country – with or without a free association arrangement – the U.S. Constitution would not extend to Puerto Rico at all.
As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico residents can obtain full rights and responsibilities available under the U.S. Constitution by moving to a state. Current limits on Puerto Rican participation in the United States are based on residence in Puerto Rico, not birth in Puerto Rico.
After all, Puerto Ricans cannot vote for President or voting Members of Congress while they reside in Puerto Rico, but they immediately get an equal voice in the U.S. government if they hop on a plane and move to Florida.
What Happens to U.S. citizenship without Constitutional protection?
U.S. citizenship is not granted to people born in Puerto Ricans under the U.S. Constitution. A 1917 U.S. law extends citizenship to people born in Puerto Rico, and the 1917 law cannot provide the same level of protection as the U.S. Constitution. This means that current U.S. citizenship for people born in Puerto Rico does not have full Constitutional protection.
If Puerto Rico were to become a state, all people who are born in Puerto Rico after statehood would obtain Constitutionally protected U.S. citizenship. The U.S. citizenship of people born in Puerto Rico before statehood would not likely be at risk. U.S. citizenship for people born in Puerto Rico before statehood may even gain Constitutional protection.
But if Puerto Rico were to become independent, and the three million residents of Puerto Rico were to lose their U.S. citizenship, what would then happen to the many people born in Puerto Rico who have moved stateside? Their U.S. citizenship was obtained the same way as family and friends back in Puerto Rico. How can these U.S. residents be certain their U.S. citizenship won’t be taken away, too, perhaps leaving them stateless?
Could a new nation of Puerto Rico keep U.S. citizenship?
Many independentistas hope that Puerto Rican U.S. citizenship is permanent and could not be taken away even if Puerto Rico chose to become a sovereign nation, perhaps by adding a “free association” arrangement and assuming Congress will agree to their terms – even though the current three nations in free association with the U.S. do not have U.S. citizenship.
No law guarantees this outcome. There is no U.S. precedent precisely on point that covers what happens to U.S. citizenship when a U.S. territory of over three million U.S. citizens becomes independent. Correspondingly, there is no assurance that U.S. citizenship can be retained for anyone with statutory citizenship – no matter where they live.
When pressed to hazard a guess, government officials and legal scholars are equally clear and overwhelmingly in agreement that U.S. citizenship will ultimately not survive Puerto Rican independence.
What Happens to U.S. Citizenship If Puerto Rico Becomes a Foreign Country? Possible Scenarios
What about people living in the states?
People born in Puerto Rico but living as U.S. citizens in a state could be in a very uncomfortable position if they lost their U.S. citizenship through a Puerto Rican plebiscite.
Adding insult to injury, stateside Puerto Ricans are not eligible to vote in Puerto Rican plebiscites, so they could lose their U.S. citizenship based on a referendum in which they were not able to vote.
If the new nation of Puerto Rico made a law saying that anyone born in Puerto Rico would automatically be a citizen of the new nation, Puerto Rican born individuals living stateside could become Puerto Rican citizens. They might have the right to live and work in the United States, perhaps for a limited time. They also might not have that right. It is impossible to know what laws or treaties the two nations would make. Each country — the United States and Puerto Rico — would have complete control over its own citizenship and immigration laws.
If Puerto Rico did not declare automatic citizenship for all people born in Puerto Rico, those living in the states could be stateless: neither citizens of the United States nor of Puerto Rico.
The bottom line
A decision in favor of independence (with or without a free association option) for Puerto Rico could impact Puerto Ricans living in the states even though they may not be able to vote in the plebiscite.
Updated August 21, 2024
