Angel Mercado has written an intriguing article at LinkedIn, suggesting that Puerto Rico should become the 51st state — but also have a status “similar to those granted to Native American Nations.” Essentially, Mercado is proposing that Puerto Rico should become a reservation like the Cherokee Nation. “Puerto Rico’s future should not be a binary choice between colonial dependency and assimilation,” Mercado writes. “It should be a hybrid model: full statehood with sovereign, cultural, and land-based reservation rights.”
This is an interesting idea and one worth looking at more closely.
What is a Native American Reservation?
A reservation is an area of land reserved for the use of a federally recognized Native American tribe. The map below shows the Cherokee Nation within the state of Oklahoma. Reservations and tribal members living on the reservation are generally not subject to state laws, but they are subject to federal governance. They can have their own laws, police force, and court systems, but cannot opt out of federal laws. Reservations are administered by the federal government, but have a degree of sovereignty and home rule. They are not covered by the “equal footing” doctrine and are not states.
Federal recognition
We can immediately see a couple of problems with the proposal. First, reservations are for federally recognized Native American tribes. At this point, the Taino are not among the recognized tribes. There are groups attempting to gain federal recognition, but as of this writing there is no recognized group of people who can claim to be the Taino tribe.
Federal recognition requires seven specific characteristics:
- The tribe must demonstrate that it has been identified as an American Indian entity on a substantially continuous basis since 1900.
- They must show that they are a distinct community which has existed as a community from historical times until the present.
- They must have political influence or authority over its members as an autonomous entity from historical times until the present.
- They must have a present governing document including the group’s membership criteria.
- The members must all descend from the historical Indian tribe and provide a current membership list.
- They must not be members of any currently acknowledged North American Indian tribe.
- They must prove that Congress has never expressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship.
We are certain that the Taino do not meet all these criteria. If we’re wrong about that, we’re still quite sure that Puerto Rico residents cannot all meet these criteria and therefore could not all be members of the Taino tribe if it were acknowledged. Membership rules vary by tribe; the Cherokee rules are outlined on a government website. To enroll in the Cherokee tribe, people must generally prove that they are descendants of the people listed on tribal rolls from 1907 and 1947. It would probably be challenging for most residents of Puerto Rico to identify a Taino ancestor and prove the relationship.
Still, if the Taino were recognized as a Native American tribe according to these criteria, it could be possible with modern genetic analysis to establish some means of proving membership for some people. The Taino could also allow non-members to live on the reservation — that is, on the Island of Puerto Rico. It would be complex, but perhaps not impossible.
States and reservations are not the same
No state is also a reservation and no reservation is also a state. That is because they are two different entities and no one place can be both a state and a reservation. For one thing, tribal nations are nations. A state is not a nation. If Canada were to become the 51st state as President Trump has suggested, it could not also continue to be the sovereign nation of Canada. It would be the state of Canada.
States are sovereign entities within the United States. They have authority given to them by the U.S. Constitution and their state constitutions. They govern all people within their borders, with the exception of the reservations. Reservations are trust lands administered by the federal government under treaties. If Puerto Rico were a reservation for the Taino tribe, their laws would govern members of the tribe, not the rest of the people on the Island. The tribe would be an independent nation and would require treaties with the U.S. government. They would also have to have an independent government separate from the state government.
For one small example, members of the Cherokee Nation do not pay Oklahoma sales tax when they buy things from a tribal business on the reservation, but people who are not members of the tribe do. With a population the size of Puerto Rico’s and so many residents who would not be members of the tribe, this kind of accommodation would be extremely difficult.
Imagine it could happen
Because of the points made above, we don’t think it would be possible for the state of Puerto Rico also to be a Taino reservation. But let’s imagine that it could be done. After all, Mercado does not suggest that Puerto Rico should be just like the Cherokee Nation; the idea is that it should be “similar.”
The “hybrid” status Mercado proposes would, according to the article,
- Guarantee full constitutional protections
- Provide equal economic opportunity
- Respect Indigenous cultural autonomy
- Acknowledge past wrongs and enable future healing
Statehood would guarantee full constitutional protection and provide equal economic opportunity, two excellent reasons to choose statehood. Acknowledging past wrongs and enabling future healing might not be something that Native American tribes would generally associate with the establishment and administration of reservations, but it would clearly be a good thing.
When it comes to autonomy, though, more thought would be required. For one thing, states are just as sovereign and autonomous as reservations. For another, the notion of “indigenous cultural autonomy” might not make sense historically. Just as we think that it would be a challenge to demonstrate that the Taino nation has had authority over its members from 1500 to 2025, it is hard to see an unbroken tradition of cultural autonomy in the very diverse population of Puerto Rico. Where does the Spanish heritage of the people of Puerto Rico fit in here? What about the people brought from Africa centuries ago? Are they included in this vision?
An interesting idea
This proposal for a different status for Puerto Rico is interesting, if impractical. But what benefits would there be for Puerto Rico? Native American reservations in the United States are generally among the poorest areas of the nation, with unemployment, substandard housing, lack of utilities and infrastructure, and health issues far beyond anything that the states face. The Foundation for Economic Education blames this squarely on the federal government. Whether that is the case or not, reservation status does not appear to be more desirable than statehood. Some reservations are in stronger economic positions than others. The Cherokee Nation, for example, has significant revenue from casinos. Still, one quarter of the people living on the reservation are living in poverty.
The idea may have grown from a romantic idea of reservations, or from the persistent desire to come up with a unique status for Puerto Rico, however clearly unconstitutional that status might be. But why complicate matters? As the 51st state, Puerto Rico will have sovereignty, equality with the current 50 states, and a level playing field that will make respect and acknowledgement the natural consequence of Puerto Rico’s excellence. The U.S. Congress is the only group that can acknowledge the Taino tribe, and also the only group that can admit Puerto Rico as a state. Contact your legislators and let them know that you vote, and that you want statehood for Puerto Rico.
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