U.S. CONSTITUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
OF PUERTO RICO STATUS OPTIONS
MURKOWSKI CALLS JUNE 23, 1998, HEARINGS ON INDEPENDENCE OPTION, SETS JULY 14, 1998, LEGISLATIVE HEARING FOR S. 472, PUERTO RICO SELF-DETERMINATION ACT
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Wrong to Suggest that Territorial Citizens Have Constitutionally Based Rights When This is Not the Case
"One of the main reasons S. 472 is before us is that the people born in Puerto Rico have statutory rather than constitutionally derived citizenship. Their "right" to acquire U.S. citizenship by virtue of birth in Puerto Rico is permissive at the discretion of Congress. Congress could terminate the prospective conferral of U.S. citizenship on persons born in Puerto Rico without question.
"While statutory citizenship once obtained may have a measure of Constitutional protection, there is no Constitutional requirement nor guarantee that Congress must maintain the current statutory provision for citizenship based on birth in territory outside the several states. To imply otherwise would be, in my opinion, wrong." Senator Larry E. Craig (R-ID)
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The Dangers of Judicial Usurpation of Puerto Rico's Political Self-Determination:
U.S. Citizenship Renunciation Cases - Puerto Rico
Dick Thornburgh
REACTION TO STATE DEPARTMENT REVERSAL OF MARI BRAS' U.S. CITIZENSHIP RENUNCIATION
The U.S. State Department has reversed its Nov. 22, 1995 issuance of a loss of nationality certificate to independence activist Juan Mari Brás. The about-face, detailed in a June 3 letter to the Mayaguez lawyer, is a tacit acknowledgment the Department erred in its earlier decision to grant Mari Brás' petition to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
The State Department reversal is an embarrassment to a bureaucracy that prides itself on its professionalism. Nonetheless, it should clear up confusion created by Mari Brás' claims of a sovereign Puerto Rican citizenship and by the commonwealth Supreme Court's 1997 decision which placed Mari Brás above the law requiring U.S. citizenship to vote here. The San Juan Star, Editorial, June 7, 1998
The U.S. government's decision to revoke Juan Mari Brás
renunciation of U.S. citizenship clearly shows that Puerto Rico is as much a colony today as it was before Commonwealth was established, said Puerto Rican Independence Party President Rubén Berrios.
"I'm not disillusioned by the decision of the U.S. Department of State, nor am I unmoved. It's just that I always thought that's what would happen", he said. "American law is the one that rules here. I would prefer that it wouldn't be so but American law is what the Americans say. "They're the ones who have the last say and this is what they've said, that Puerto Rico is a colony."
"For us, it has been painful to have to accept the decisions of certain judges here in Puerto Rico who have not kept to the rules ordering our political circumstances as a territory of the United States, in which the federal government has the last word." Miriam Ramírez de Ferrer
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Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), sponsor of S. 472, The Puerto Rico Self-Determination Act, questioning panelists at last month's senate hearings on the cost of Puerto Rico status options.
The record before Congress is now clear that permanent union and irrevocable U.S. citizenship can not be obtained through commonwealth, even if it is reformed as proposed in the 1993 commonwealth definition. Since only statehood provides the constitutionally guaranteed status and citizenship included in the commonwealth definition, the real question arising from the 1993 referendum results is how those who voted for commonwealth with permanent union and irrevocable U.S. citizenship intend to achieve that result if not through statehood.
"After 100 years, the people of Puerto Rico deserve to make their will known in a congressionally-approved process, and today's poll indicates strong support for such a process among New York's Puerto Rican community. The results clearly say to New York's Congressional delegation that if they wish to win over Puerto Rican voters in this year's election, then they should support Puerto Rico's right to vote for self- determination," said Miriam Ramirez de Ferrer, M.D., President of Puerto Ricans in Civic Action.
Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale) Editorial
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