Nydia M. Velazquez: “this amendment adds a new finding to the bill. It recognizes the separate and distinct nature of Puerto Rican…”

“this amendment adds a new finding to the bill. It recognizes the separate and distinct nature of Puerto Rican citizenship. The amendment provides that on November 18, 1997, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico decided that there exists Puerto Rican citizenship which is separate and distinct from the United States citizenship. The court further found that persons born in Puerto Rico who are Puerto Rican citizens may not be denied the right to vote in Puerto Rico if they are not United States citizens. Juan Mari Bras, the subject of this lawsuit, has challenged us to take a close look at the nature of Puerto Rico nationality and citizenship. The proponents of the bill insist that the Puerto Rican people have no rights other than what Congress has granted them. This reading of history is outright wrong and deceiving. This deliberate omission of fact from the findings is yet another example of the misleading hand behind the drafting of this bill. By omitting this finding, we are ignoring the fundamental protections of international human rights as well as the U.S. Constitution. Almost 50 years ago, several years after the creation of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a treaty signed and ratified by the United States Congress, provided under Article 15 that everyone has a right to nationality.…”