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Celerity

(52,575 posts)
9. The Jones-Shafroth Act (Pub. L. 64-368, 39 Stat. 951, enacted March 2, 1917) officially called the Organic Act of Puerto
Mon Sep 29, 2025, 09:50 AM
Sep 29
Rico or the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1917

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jones%E2%80%93Shafroth_Act

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Citizenship

The Jones–Shafroth Act granted statutory birthright United States citizenship to anyone born in the archipelago and island on or after April 11, 1899. The law was reinforced by and remains in effect under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (Public Law 414 of June 27, 1952 SEC.302) as follows:

§1402. Persons born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899

All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after April 11, 1899, and prior to January 13, 1941, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, residing on January 13, 1941, in Puerto Rico or another territory over which the United States exercises rights of sovereignty and not citizens of the United States under any other Act, are declared to be citizens of the United States as of January 13, 1941. All persons born in Puerto Rico on or after January 13, 1941, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are citizens of the United States at birth.

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title III, ch. 1, §302, 66 Stat. 236.)

The Act abolished racial restrictions found in United States immigration and naturalization statutes going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790. The 1952 Act retained a quota system for nationalities and regions. Eventually, the Act established a preference system that determined which ethnic groups were desirable immigrants and placed great importance on labor qualifications. The Act defined three types of immigrants: immigrants with special skills or who had relatives of U.S. citizens, who were exempt from quotas and who were to be admitted without restrictions; average immigrants whose numbers were not supposed to exceed 270,000 per year; and refugees.

It expanded the definition of the "United States" for nationality purposes, which already included Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to add Guam. Persons born in these territories on or after December 24, 1952, acquire U.S. citizenship at birth on the same terms as persons born in other parts of the United States. Residents of the island were granted United States citizenship and allowed to reject it voluntarily within six months of the act being established. Of the almost 1.2 million residents on the island, only 288 rejected it. Presently, Puerto Rico lacks voting representation in Congress, and residents of the island aren't qualified to participate in general elections but can only vote in primaries. Puerto Ricans residing on the U.S. mainland, however, have the option to register and vote in their respective states.

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Recommendations

6 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

who did they expect, Eric's wife doing Tom Petty covers? eShirl Sep 29 #1
Hey! Don't sully Tom Petty like that! NT Happy Hoosier Sep 29 #4
Hah! My first thought when I heard he'd been chosen (after noting that Taylor must have hlthe2b Sep 29 #2
Hope that means Trump won't show up newdeal2 Sep 29 #3
I predict the NFL probably caves in and kicks Bad Bunny off the HT show after Motherfucker explodes in poutrage Celerity Sep 29 #5
Oh, no. I think BB is too popular and they've seen what happened to Disney... hlthe2b Sep 29 #7
Morons on that x-thread wanting Rubio to cancel his visa--LOL. (He's from Puerto Rico and they hlthe2b Sep 29 #6
I learned LilElf70 Sep 29 #8
The Jones-Shafroth Act (Pub. L. 64-368, 39 Stat. 951, enacted March 2, 1917) officially called the Organic Act of Puerto Celerity Sep 29 #9
I'm from America and I think it's mostly stupid people. How else did we get to this point? mucholderthandirt Sep 29 #10
My wife is from PR radicalleft Sep 29 #12
The administration is making it harder for PR residents to travel to the mainland IronLionZion Sep 29 #17
Given the zealousness of ICE radicalleft Sep 29 #19
You can be too judgmental about the stupidity in this country? ananda Sep 29 #15
! liberalla Sep 29 #16
The same idiots who think I'm stealing their jobs IronLionZion Sep 29 #18
This makes me smile LetMyPeopleVote Sep 29 #11
Who cares? Norbert Sep 29 #13
They gotta have some reason to blame for their perpetually twisted knickers* Attilatheblond Sep 29 #14
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