Puerto Rican citizenship
On April 12, 1900, the United States Congress enacted the Foraker Act of 1900, which replaced the governing military regime in Puerto Rico with a civil form of government. Section VII of this act created a Puerto Rican citizenship for the residents "born in Puerto Rico and, therefore, subject to its jurisdiction." The Puerto Rican citizenship replaced the Spanish citizenship that Puerto Ricans held at the time in 1898. Such Puerto Rican citizenship was granted by Spain in 1897. This citizenship was reaffirmed by the United States Supreme Court in 1904 by its ruling in which denied that Puerto Ricans were United States citizens and labeled them as noncitizen nationals. In a 1914 letter of refusal to the offer of U.S. citizenship and addressed to both the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress, the Puerto Rico House of Delegates stated ""We, Porto Ricans, Spanish-Americans, of Latin soul ... are satisfied with our own beloved Porto Rican citizenship, and proud to have been born and brethren in our own motherland."" The official 1916 Report by the American colonial governor of Puerto Rico to the U.S. Secretary of War (the former name for the Department of Defense), addresses both citizenships, the Puerto Rican citizenship and United States citizenship, in the context of the issuance of passports, further evidencing that the Puerto Rican citizenship did not disappear when the Americans took over the island in 1898.
51st state
On June 27, 2018, Jenniffer González-Colón, Puerto Rico's non-voting member of Congress, introduced the Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2018 (HR 6246) to Congress to admit Puerto Rico as a US state. The legislation would create a taskforce to repeal or amend any existing laws that have unequal application between Puerto Rico and the several States to phase in equality for Puerto Rico. Under this legislation (if passed), Puerto Rico would become incorporated (from its current unincorporated status) while equality with US States is phased in and Puerto Rico would fully become a US State by January 2021. The bill introduced into the House has bipartisan support with 37 cosponsors, including 22 Republicans and 15 Democrats. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon is the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. The Resident Commissioner is elected by the people of Puerto Rico to serve in the US House of Representatives but does not have full voting power, due to its unequal status as a US territory. The legislation cites the two referenda Puerto Rico voted on in favor of Statehood to call on Congress to admit Puerto Rico as a State as an expression of the will of the people in the territory.