As Puerto Rico gets ready for its Election Day referendum on the Island’s political status, one question is shaping up as critical in driving the voters’ choice: the future of U.S. citizenship for U.S. citizens born in Puerto Rico under independence/free association.
Guaranteed Citizenship?
There is a perception that current citizens can count on maintaining their U.S. citizenship no matter what the future holds. The truth is that U.S. citizenship is guaranteed to Puerto Ricans only under statehood. As a state, Puerto Rico would fall under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th amendment citizenship protections. As a territory or an independent nation, even under a Free Association treaty, Puerto Rico does not have that protection.
The Puerto Rico Status Act (PRSA)
In the text of the bill, citizenship is “protected and secured” only under statehood. In the Natural Resources Committee’s document explaining the citizenship provisions of the PRSA, there is this clear paragraph: “Under Independence and Sovereignty in Free Association with the United States, Puerto Rican citizenship would be determined by the nation of Puerto Rico, and U.S. citizenship would be determined by Congress.”
“The bill’s sponsors agree,” the document goes on, “that causing the nation of Puerto Rico to remain indefinitely with a population that is the majority the citizens of the United States would not be in the interest of the nation of Puerto Rico or in the interest of the United States.”
The briefing document explains how citizenship for children born in a future independent/sovereign free association Puerto Rico might be handled, but this discussion is one of conjecture – what might happen in the future. It provides guesses but no guarantees.
Other Laws
The PRSA does say that current U.S. citizens who were born in Puerto Rico will be able to keep their existing U.S. citizenship, but the PRSA is not the guiding force or final word on the legalities of U.S. citizenship. To start, it is not even a law. It is a bill. Given current Congressional reluctance to expand access to citizenship, odds are pretty good that if PRSA were to pass, it will contain more stringent limits on U.S. citizenship.
And that is just the starting point. Congress changes laws all the time.
Even if citizenship is not touched in the PRSA before it becomes a law, Congress can pass another bill with stricter immigration or citizenship reforms at any time – as technical corrections soon after passage, or months or years later as complications arise. This is a common practice.
Once Puerto Rico is no longer part of the American family, the Island will have no representation at all in Congress. There is currently just one non-voting resident commissioner. As an independent nation, Puerto Rico will have no voice at all in Congress. Puerto Rico will have no one at the table to look out for its U.S. citizens.
In the current political climate, immigration is a sensitive subject. Many Americans, including many members of Congress, want to curtail U.S. citizenship and make it more difficult for people to enter the U.S. from other countries. Past Congressional testimony is also clear that there will always be limits on U.S. citizenship in a new nation of Puerto Rico. To claim otherwise would be misleading to voters.
What Will Happen to U.S. Citizenship in a New Nation of Puerto Rico? The Word from Washington
