Our Mission

The United States took Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War with the intent of making it American permanently. Citizenship was extended to Puerto Ricans to bind the territory to our Nation.

The Supreme Court, however, decided that Puerto could become a nation or a State to prevent the Philippines, taken at the same time, from considering statehood. This created a status under which Puerto Rico and its U.S. citizens could be treated differently in Federal policies in addition to not having votes in their national government and having the Federal government able to make their local as well as their national laws.

Although Puerto Rico is treated like a State for most laws, it is treated as a second class state in some major programs and is not even considered to be part of the U.S. in others. The combination has left the islands underdeveloped, with an economy that has lagged that of the rest of the country for more than four decades and has been in depression for 10 of the last 11 years.

The failed territory economy has resulted in increasing numbers of our fellow Americans from Puerto Rico moving to a State for the greater opportunity available in a State. There are now more than 5.4 million Puerto Rican citizens in the States and less than 3.4 million in the islands.

The President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status concluded in 2011 that the quickest way to turn Puerto Rico’s economy around was to resolve the question of its ultimate political status.

In 2012, Puerto Ricans overwhelming voted to reject territory status and to seek statehood over independence or nationhood in a non-binding association with the U.S. by more than 61.1%. In June of this year, in a second plebiscite, the vote for statehood over territory status or the nationhood options was more than 97.2%.

As a Member of Congress from south Florida for over 10 years, I dealt with Puerto Rico’s economic and political issues on a regular basis. Americans for Puerto Rico’s Self Determination is a new organization that will help educate citizens of the States about the territory and make proposals to improve its situation, particularly to enable the territory to obtain a status that provides a democratic form of government at all levels and that enables Puerto Ricans to be treated equally. We will meet with Members of Congress, work with various interest groups, present economic studies and work with the media to discuss Puerto Rico from the perspective of the rest of the country.

I hope that you enjoy learning about Puerto Rico through our organization and become involved in helping to resolve the status of what is now the oldest and largest colony in the world.

Peter Deutsch | President

Peter Deutsch was a member of the United States House of Representatives from January 1993 until January 2005 representing the 20th Congressional District of Florida. Congressman Deutsch represented the closet mainland district to Puerto Rico for ten of his twelve years in Congress. Congressman Deutsch was a leader in Congress on Puerto Rico status issues during his entire tenure in Congress. Congressman Deutsch served as the Ranking Democrat on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Commerce Committee during the 104th, 107th and 108th Congresses. Prior to serving in Congress, Mr. Deutsch served in the Florida House of Representatives from November 1982 until November 2002. Mr. Deutsch received a Bachelor of Science degree from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Yale University Law School.