Puerto Rican citizenship
Puerto Rican citizenship was first legislated by the United States Congress in Article 7 of the Foraker Act of 1900 and later recognized in the Constitution of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican citizenship existed before the U.S. takeover of the islands of Puerto Rico and continued afterwards. Its affirmative standing was also recognized before and after the creation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952. Puerto Rican citizenship was recognized by the United States Congress in the early twentieth century and continues unchanged after the creation of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The United States government also continues to recognize a Puerto Rican nationality. Puerto Rican citizenship was once also recognized by the Spanish Government, which recognized Puerto Ricans as a people with Puerto Rican, and not American citizenship. It also at one time granted Spanish citizenship to Puerto Ricans on the basis of their Puerto Rican (and not American) citizenship.
Puerto Rican migration to New York City
In 1902, the United States Treasury Department issued new immigration guidelines that changed the status of all Puerto Ricans to "foreigners." Isabel Gonzalez was a young single mother who was expecting her second child. Her fiancé, who was in New York, sent for her with the intention of getting married. When Gonzalez arrived in New York, she and all the Puerto Ricans who were with her, were detained in Ellis Island and denied entry. She was accused of being an alien and as an unwed parent she was deemed as a burden to the welfare system of the country. Gonzalez challenged the Government of the United States in the groundbreaking case "GONZALES v. WILLIAMS' (her surname was misspelled by immigration officials). The Supreme Court ruled that under the immigration laws González was not an alien, and therefore could not be denied entry into New York. It also stated that Puerto Ricans were not U.S. citizens, they were "noncitizen nationals." Gonzalez, who became an activist on behalf of all Puerto Ricans, paved the way for the Jones-Shafroth Act, which conferred United States citizenship on all citizens of Puerto Rico.