Speech #1010222439

claims that the United States citizenship of persons born or naturalized in Puerto Rico Is not protected by the 14th amendment. as Is the citizenship of all those born or naturalized "in the United States" pursuant to that amendment. This assertion is an incorrect statement of law. Here again Mr. LAGOMARSINO ignores well established legal doctrines In making obviously biased political statements. Conceivably. the only possible bases for his mistaken notion is the Supreme Court decision of Rogers v. Bel/el. 401 United States 815 (1971). where a decided Court drew a distinction between statutory naturalization that took place within the United States and that which took place abroad. based on a technical reading of the phrase "in the United States" In the 14th amendment. With respect to persons naturalized outside the United States. the Rogers majority reasoned that Congress may condition their retention of American citizenship so long as the conditions are "not unreasonable. arbitrary. or unlawful." 401 United States at That holding does not apply to Puerto Rico not only because the Issues are essentially different but also because Puerto Rico. by Congress own determination In the Immigration and Nationality Act. expressly included in the geographic definition of the "United States". for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(8). a power Congress has exercised under the authority recognized In the Insular cases. Congress cannot retract that geographical definition any more than it could revoke a conferral of naturalized status within the United States under Rogers versus Bellol. For If Congress could affect the permanence of its grant of citizenship by subsequently altering the geographical rules in place at the time of naturalization. the guarantee of the 14th amendment. which was recognized in Rogers itself. would mean nothing. In any event. regardless of the applicability of the 14th Amendment. it Is beyond doubt that the Due Process Clause of the fifth amendment restrains Congress in the exercise of any power with respect to Puerto Rico. including the exercise of the naturalization power. Examining Board v. Flores de Otero. 426 United States 572. 600 (1976).