In Citizenship We Trust? The Citizenship Question Need Not Impede Puerto Rican Decolonization

Abstract

Puerto Rico is an uncomfortable reminder of the democratic deficits within the world’s oldest constitutional democracy. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens who live in a U.S. territory that is subject to the plenary authority of Congress, to which they cannot elect voting members. In 2022, under unified Democratic control for the first time in a decade, Congress considered the Puerto Rico Status Act, legislation that would finally decolonize Puerto Rico. The Status Act offered Puerto Rican voters three alternatives to the colonial status quo—statehood, independence, or sovereignty in free association—and committed Congress to implementing whichever alternative won majority support from Puerto Rican voters. The Status Act sought to define how any change in status would affect Puerto Ricans’ access to U.S. citizenship. The Status Act proposed that all Puerto Ricans would retain their U.S. citizenship if Puerto Rico became independent or entered free association but included special restrictions that would limit Puerto Ricans’ ability to pass on their U.S. citizenship to children born after a change in status. While this Note appreciates the Status Act’s efforts to decolonize Puerto Rico, it argues that the Status Act erred in proposing this specialized regime for citizenship claims. Instead, it contends that the existing derivative citizenship framework would better regulate citizenship for Puerto Rican U.S. citizens born after a change in status. Although the Status Act died in the Senate, it represents a new and influential formula for decolonizing Puerto Rico. Future proponents of status reform should draw on the existing derivative citizenship law because it offers clearer provisions that can better ensure a large number of Puerto Ricans may rely on U.S. citizenship—a benefit Puerto Ricans themselves clearly value—even after a change in status.