Are they? Are they really? Puerto Rico still isn’t allowed to be it’s own state
Downvoters somehow missing the point where Puerto Ricans are basically treated as second class citizens because of where they live. Puerto Rico should be it’s own state already
They are still U S. citizens, just not citizens of any state. Same thing can happen if you are born in DC or a military base not in a state.
American Samoans are the ones that really get screwed. They are just U S. nationals. All the responsibilities of citizens (including the draft when it exists) but not all of the benefits.
It was kind of my point that they were treated as second class citizens, like Samoans, just because of where they were born. Puerto Rico should be it’s own state already
What a weird place this instance is.
The explanation for those not in the know.
Puerto Ricans are USA citizens they can vote for president but They can not vote on the president from Puerto Rico. They are natural born US citizens can’t vote for president in the place of their birth. This is because of many reasons.
So they have to move and become residents of not Puerto Rico, but a different state, to vote for president.
So they do not have the same rights as other US citizens because of where they live. This is unique in the united states.
I mean, it’s not because they’re Puerto Rican, it’s because they live in Puerto Rico. Someone from Iowa who moved to Puerto Rico would also not get a vote.
This is because our system allocates votes to land, not people.
US citizens don’t get to vote for president. They get to vote for who their place of residence votes for.
Up until the 60s, people in DC also didn’t get a vote, because by default only states get a vote, and it’s explicitly not a state.
Puerto Rican statehood is more complicated than that. Becoming a state is a contentious issue even amongst Puerto Ricans.
Is it?
I had friends there for a long time, they all basically either wanted the US out or had it be a US state, anything but this in between nothing that they’re in now
Yes it is. There is another referendum on statehood this year, but in 2020, the vote was only marginally higher in favor of it than against.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Puerto_Rican_status_referendum
Are they? Are they really?
Yes they really are. They are U.S. citizens who are disenfranchised based on location.
Yeah, maybe it wasn’t entirely clear there but I was trying to say that they were treated as second class citizens that can pay taxes but can’t vote becit of where they live
You do know that has nothing to do with being of Puerto Rican ethnicity, right? It has to do with living on Puerto Rico. You can be a citizen of Indonesian descent who lives on Puerto Rico and you still can’t vote for president. But that person, and all of the other U.S. citizens making up the population of Puerto Rico can just hop on a plane or a boat and come to the continental U.S. (or even Hawaii or Alaska), no passport needed, move there without any immigration issues, and vote in the next presidential election.
It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is.
You also can’t vote for president if you live on American Samoa or Guam.