Several Puerto Ricans interviewed by Fox News Digital in San Juan, Puerto Rico voiced opposition to becoming America\u2019s 51st state, arguing that it would send the economy into turmoil and strip the island of its cultural identity.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think it should be a state,” Carly, who grew up in Puerto Rico and now lives in Connecticut<\/a>, told Fox News Digital. “I don’t want them to do PR how they did with Hawaii. I don’t want taxes to spike. People\u2019s wages here are really low to maintain life here.”<\/p>\n Statehood for Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory since the United States acquired it from Spain in 1898, has long been debated among both the U.S. government and Puerto Rico\u2019s local government.<\/p>\n CARIBBEAN HOT SPOT GRIPPED BY WATER CRISIS, AND TOURISTS SCRAMBLE TO RESCHEDULE PLANS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The statehood debate carries significant economic implications for the island, including potential changes to how Puerto Rican residents and businesses are taxed. Puerto Rico operates under a different federal tax structure than the states \u2014 statehood would bring the island more fully into the federal tax system.<\/p>\n “Everything would become more expensive than it already is and locals [have] already been struggling for a while now,” Alejandra from San Juan, Puerto Rico, said. She continued, “It would make stuff even worse.”<\/p>\n Puerto Rican Gov. Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez Col\u00f3n, a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party and ally of President Donald Trump, is an advocate of the push for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. She argues that achieving statehood goes hand-in-hand with achieving equality, as her party has claimed unequal treatment in numerous federal programs.<\/p>\n PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW RECOGNIZING UNBORN BABIES AS HUMAN BEINGS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n One Puerto Rican resident who spoke with Fox News Digital cited the public scrutiny of Trump as a reason for not wanting to gain statehood. Although Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, residents of the territory cannot vote in the general election for president.<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of controversy with the\u2026 especially the president right now,” a woman from Puerto Rico who referred to herself as “Boo” said. “We don’t want to be a part of that, for sure.”<\/p>\n A nonbinding referendum<\/a> on the issue held in November 2024 asked Puerto Rican voters<\/a> to choose between statehood, independence, or associated independence \u2014 which leaves certain issues to be negotiated individually. The vote found that 59% of those voting were in favor of statehood, with 29% favoring independence and 12% for associated independence.<\/p>\n “I believe that we can be our own independent country,” Angelie, another Puerto Rican resident, said. “I think that we have the full potential to become an independent country since we have been colonized for so, so many years.”<\/p>\n She continued, “We had the chance to be a country then the United States, no hate though, colonized us and promised us something and then it was another stuff.”<\/p>\n Another resident expressed his support for Puerto Rico gaining independence, but said it’s “not ready for that.”<\/p>\n “I truly believe that Puerto Rico should be part of the nations around the world as an independent nation like the U.S. is,” Luis from Puerto Rico said.<\/p>\n CARVILLE TELLS DEMS TO QUIETLY PREPARE POWER GRAB WITH DC, PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD AND SUPREME COURT PACKING<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Luis also cited Puerto Rico\u2019s economic relationship with the federal government<\/a> as one reason he questions whether the island is prepared for independence.<\/p>\n “The reality is that we have been\u2026 tailored to the U.S. \u2014 not citizens, the U.S. government, federal government \u2014 to their liking,” Luis said. “In other words, they have been feeding us with a lot of federal funding and people are used to that.”<\/p>\n He continued, “A lot of people do not work just because they are used to get the federal funds. So that’s a shame.”<\/p>\n In addition to the economic concerns presented, “Boo” pointed to her fear that Puerto Rico would lose its culture if it joined the U.S. as a state.<\/p>\n “Puerto Rico is already being very Americanized,” she said. “I wouldn’t like that to keep going on if we become a state because it will lose the heart and soul.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several Puerto Ricans interviewed by Fox News Digital in San Juan, Puerto Rico voiced opposition to becoming America\u2019s 51st state, arguing that it would send the economy into turmoil and strip the island of its cultural identity. “I don’t think it should be a state,” Carly, who grew up in Puerto Rico and now lives … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}