Puerto Rico formally asks to be admitted as 51st US state
Governor Jennifer Gonzalez says the request fulfils the mandate of the November 2024 referendum in which a majority backed statehood.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has formally requested admission to the United States as its 51st state.
At the weekend, Governor Jennifer Gonzalez signed documents asking the Trump administration and Congress to be prepared to accept the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island as a state.
It is not clear how the administration and lawmakers will respond. The governor says the island is fulfilling a mandate from the November 2024 referendum, in which a majority of voters supported statehood over independence.
"With this signing, we fulfil the commitment of our government program to prioritise statehood and honour the will of our people expressed at the ballot," Gonzalez said.
First formal request
She said the statehood resolution incorporates the official request for admission, and that previous efforts had not resulted in a formal request being made to Washington.
The request is being made "within the framework of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States", she said. "We will continue working in Puerto Rico and Washington to advance it."
"This is the time to define ourselves. The time for decolonisation has arrived. It is now up to Congress to heed that will and exercise its constitutional authority to admit Puerto Rico as a state of the Union," she added.
Citizens without a vote
The island has a population of just over three million. Puerto Ricans have been US citizens since 1917, but they do not vote in US general elections and have no voting representatives in Congress. Officials say that would change if statehood were granted.
President Trump visited Puerto Rico in 2017 after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria.
It is unclear whether the timing is favourable, as the United States prepares for midterm elections in early November.
