Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico in shambles. The U.S. has left it largely the same. Not to disparage the countless first responders and supplies sent to the island, as every bit of aid has been a blessing, but many have called out the federal government for not doing more and not doing it sooner. Just compare the response to Puerto Rico to that of Houston and the regions affected by Hurricane Irma.
In the early aftermath of Maria, Trump prioritized tackling the NFL in a domestic spat. When he did address the disaster in Puerto Rico, he took to attacking the territory and it’s people on twitter. Trump never once went to Texas to tell those afflicted, “You’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.” But that’s exactly what he did in Puerto Rico right before he claimed Maria wasn’t a real catastrophe.
Just from a public relations respective alone, the U.S. has shown a total lack of respect to the people of Puerto Rico — who, as it should be noted, are American citizens. Something that roughly half of Americans are ignorant of according to recent polling. Interestingly, those who were aware Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens were more likely to support aid for the territory than those who weren’t. Not only that, but when participants were explicitly told about Puerto Ricans' citizenship, support for disaster relief went up even higher. This displays the disconnect we in the continental United States feel towards Puerto Rico. We don’t see Puerto Ricans as being a slice of the same pie we’re cut from.
Now imagine if Puerto Rico had their own star on the flag. Imagine if they could vote in Congress. Right now, Puerto Rico has no say. They can’t fight back. There is no greater power that comes with statehood than representation. On gaining statehood, Puerto Rico would receive two senators and at minimum one member in the House of Representatives. Statehood would give them a voice.
Puerto Rico could, of course, in response to the failings of the U.S., choose to become an independent nation. But without the U.S., an independent Puerto Rico would be even less equipped to handle another hurricane like Maria. Just imagine the state Florida would be in every hurricane season if it didn’t have the full support of FEMA and the federal government.
Now, Puerto Rico’s two major political parties aren’t the Democrats and Republicans, so it’s not certain what parties their new members of Congress would align with. However, one could reasonably speculate that given the rhetoric coming out of the Republican party and specifically Donald Trump, they’d lean blue. Giving Democrats two whole new senators is not a gamble a Republican led Congress would want to take without the prospect of gaining something huge. Something on par with granting Puerto Rico statehood in exchange for tax reform, a balanced budget amendment or repealing Obamacare.
Even if the U.S.’s response to Maria spurs Puerto Ricans push for statehood as much as it ought to, Congress makes the final decision. Only a push from both Puerto Ricans and those of us on the mainland could sway it towards yes.