ABSTRACT

The citizenship and naturalization provisions for the Spanish subjects inhabiting Puerto Rico at the time of the annexation were outlined in the first clause of Article Nine. Puerto Rican status plebiscitary proceedings, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) submitted a Memorandum on the citizenship status of Puerto Ricans. The CRS begins with a discussion of Afroyim v. Rusk, a case addressing the power of Congress to enact legislation that revoked the citizenship of naturalized citizens if they participated in a foreign country's elections. The citizenship laws developed for Puerto Rico, however, only conferred a right to a jus sanguinis or derivative forms of parental citizenship. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Act (BINA) was the first law to enable the residents of the insular territories, including Puerto Rican citizens. Congress enacted legislation treating Puerto Rico as a part of the United States for the purposes of extending a right to a jus soli or birthright citizenship.