Is Puerto Rico Part of the United States?

Is Puerto Rico part of the United States?  If it’s not a trick question, it is at least a tricky one. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. It belongs to the United States, it is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and it is part of the sovereign territory of the United States.

Senator Martínez Nadal told the New York Times in 1932 that the Republican platform recognized Puerto Rico as “an integral part of the United States.” In 1933, the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico said it on the floor of the Senate and in 1936 he said it again on the floor of the House. Governor Luis Muñoz Marín said it in the 1950s. The Republican Party Platform included the phrase 1980. Rep. Steny Hoyer said it in 2016, and so did the Wall Street Journal. The phrase has been used so many times by so many people that we can’t list all the examples.

What’s more, people born in Puerto Rico are birthright citizens of the United States. Workers in Puerto Rico pay federal taxes in the form of Social Security and other payroll taxes. Residents of Puerto Rico follow federal laws and can freely live, work, and study in any state, just as people from states can. Puerto Rico is fully integrated into the economic life of the United States, importing and exporting billions of dollars worth of goods to the United States and to foreign countries. In fact, Puerto Rico exports more American-made pharmaceuticals than any of the 50 states.

So yes, Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

An unincorporated territory

However, Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States. The idea of an “unincorporated territory” dates from the Insular Cases. In Downes vs. Bidwell in 1911, the decision described Puerto Rico as “a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States within… the Constitution.”

This is the source of the idea that Puerto Rico is not part of the United States…really.

The Insular Cases, a series of early 20th century Supreme Court decisions that look incredibly racist to us now, determined that territories could be unincorporated, and that those territories weren’t fully covered under the U.S. Constitution. These decisions have never been reversed, so they still affect the legal position of Puerto Rico and the people living there.

This means that “not a part of the United States” is still part of the legal position of Puerto Rico.  From the same Supreme Court ruling comes another statement, “If those possessions are inhabited by alien races, differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of thought, the administration of government and justice, according to Anglo-Saxon principles, may for a time be impossible.”

In Delima vs. Bidwell, a case from 1901, you’ll find this sentence: “From our construction of the powers of the government and of the treaty with Spain the danger of the nationalization of savage tribes cannot arise.”

We could therefore say that part of Puerto Rico’s legal position is that of being inhabited by “savage tribes” and “alien races.” We’re not going to get agreement on that from any reasonable person in the 21st century.

So it may be questionable that the line about “not a part of the United States” is still applicable, especially since U.S. and Puerto Rico leaders have been saying that “Puerto Rico is an integral part of the United States” for roughly a century by now.

Will statehood help?

Puerto Rico is in an ambiguous position when it comes to this question, just because Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory. As a state, the Island and the people living there would be fully protected by the U.S. Constitution, and the answer to the question would be a very clear “Yes.” It’s time to make that change. Reach out to your representatives and make sure that they know you want them to get on the right side of history.