Only Puerto Rico, if they choose to be.
I canât support changing existing traditional borders in the Continental US for political aims. There will be thousands of states by the end of the century.
The scenario is that the Dems have enough votes to pass Admission through the House and the Senate. That doesnât sound like the party in power (Dem.) would need new states to control the government.
The âonly two optionsâ bothers me. The Puerto Rican people are US citizens. Would the Independence option revoke their citizenship? (Involuntary revocation of citizenship for being born in the wrong place?!?) Or would the residents of the newly independent country have dual citizenship?
Article IV Section 3 governs the admission of new states.
Article IV Section 4 guarantees that all states will have a republican form of government.
It boils down to a bill. No super majority required.
My issue with the plebiscite isnât the admission side (although how to insure that congress admits P.R. if the vote goes that way is a problem, but congress lying to people about sovereignty isnât really new.)
My issue is, if the proposed plebiscite goes for Independence, how will the US treat the 45+% of the people (US citizens) who didnât vote for independence.
Ditto. All this talk about whether or not they want to be a state as if we have no say in the matter. I donât want them either, at least not while their finances are in the sewer and the murder rate is worse by half again than any state we have now.
If Puerto Rico gains independence, its residents and and child born prior to the effective date of independence would remain natural born United States Citizens even after independence, having dual citizenship with the United States and Puerto Rico. Their citizenship would never go away.
Now children born ON or AFTER the effective date of independence would be natural born citizens of Puerto Rico only, but would retain a jus sanguinus claim to United States Citizenship. And, of course, United States Citizens can freely travel to the United States to give birth, which would then confer natural born citizenship.
In terms of citizenship, all Puerto Ricans are âin the USâ.
(This is all bit silly, since I canât see congress allowing the plebiscite to dictate what congress does. The powers that be like the situation the way that it is.)