US Territories that should be States

[walleye26]

The US has several territories. While the Northern Marianas and American Samoa are not populous enough to be US states, they could be merged. Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands are all large enough to become US states. Which, if any, do you support and why?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

In 1969, Guam voted against NMI joining it. But part of the reason might have been working with the Japanese during WWII, which shouldn't be an issue now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Guamanian_Northern_Mariana_Islands_union_referendum

[brucejoel99]

Any & all of them that want it & vote as such.

[Big Abraham]

None of these, and none should be U.S. territories either

[Trends Are Fake]

Feels imperialistic to call for any of these things (statehood, merging territories, etc) without polls showing that it's what the residents of the territories want. PR will likely vote for statehood in a referendum in November and they should be promptly admitted to the union if that happens. As for the rest, I have no idea what they want. Regardless of whether they'd rather remain as territories or do something else, as long as they are territories I do believe that they should have more proper representation. A constitutional amendment granting territories one electoral vote and giving their representatives the right to vote on floor amendments would probably be ideal, but it's also highly unlikely to happen.

[7,052,770]

Guam + NMI have the same ethnic group and language, and are in close geographic proximity. Combined, their population is ~214,000 [2015 estimate], which is small for a state, 37% of the size of Wyoming. However, it's not unprecedented for the smallest state in population to have 37% of the population of the 2nd smallest state, or to have 0.07% of the country's population - Nevada was less on both of those for most of its first century as a state. They ought to be given a referendum to become the 53rd state, and Congress should honor the results.

I would expect it to be a swingy state. The current governor of Guam is a Democrat, but Republicans controlled the office from 2003 through 2019, and the Democrats haven't controlled the NMI governorship since 1998. However, the Guam delegate in the House has been a Democrat since the 1990s, and the NMI delegate is an independent who causes with the Democrats.

[7,052,770]

American Samoa is too far away from Guam/NMI to be a workable state, and on the wrong side of the International Date Line. Honestly, it would make more sense (though still not a lot of sense) to add it to Hawaii, but it's still not a very good solution, as it would be less than 4% of the population of the newly-large state and likely not really prioritized by its government, and US representations.

With a population around 50,000, that's probably too small to be a state on its own, and I haven't seen any evidence that they want to be. Maybe it should be let go and merged it into Samoa [the country]?

[walleye26]

No love for the USVI?

[7,052,770]

I also don't have a good solution for the USVI. A population of just over 100,000 also seems small for a state, although is it really that much smaller than the 214,000 I advocated for above?

Looking through a list of population density in the Caribbean, the USVI is already pretty high on the list. Just getting it to 214,000 in population would give it a higher density than any Caribbean country/dependency other than Sint Maarten, so there's just no way that it would ever be more than an extremely low-population state. At least Wyoming has the theoretical possibility of filling up one day.

I would do nothing with the USVI unless a pro-statehood movement really takes hold there. And if it does, I still wouldn't be sure of the right course of action.

[AndyHogan14]

Puerto Rico only. As a Californian, I am loath to add any more tiny states without a major shakeup in how Congress functions (stripping the Senate of power/expanding the House). If we ever added some sort of proportional representation element to the House (unlikely) and/or abolish the Electoral College, then I would 100% expect the territories to be able to take part in those elections in their current forms.

Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa are too small under any circumstances. A combined Marianas state would be just over 200k and even if American Samoa combined with the Independent State of Samoa and applied for statehood (exceptionally unlikely), the population would only be around 250k. As far as the US Virgin Islands are concerned, it would make sense geographically to lump them in with Puerto Rico being that they are probably maxed out in terms of population with only 100k people. The problem with merging the USVI and Puerto Rico, however, are the extreme cultural differences. If the people or PR and the USVI wanted to merge, I assume that it would be for federal representation purposes only and they would remain independent of one another for local matters.

[Ferguson97]

Whichever ones want to

[Former Crackhead Mike Lindell]

With the consent of their populations*, the US should purchase all of the United Kingdom's Caribbean overseas territories, along with Bermuda, and incorporate them, with the U.S. Virgin Islands, into a new 'Caribbean Islands' state.

The combined population of all the British territories is around 220,000. The U.S. Virgin Islands is around 106,000.

326,000 is about a respectable enough population for a tiny state. Or would it be a huge state?

* Would be fascinating to know how *those* referenda would go. These places don't have meaningful connections to the United Kingdom - not like, say, Gibraltar or The Falkland Islands.

Though I remember talk of Bermuda joining Canada.

[Fascism Must Be Defeated]

I think they should only become states if there's a clear desire of the inhabitants to be a state.

That said, I do think that territories should have voting rights. Perhaps citizens living abroad and those living in territories could be granted electoral votes in the presidential election via the District of Columbia's electors after DC statehood, as well as voting congressional seats.

Also, citizens of American Samoa should be able to easily access citizenship--I think the current status quo lets native land regimes stay in place but folks there should be able to become Americans with a simple application rather than military service.

[ηєω ƒяσηтιєя]

Out of this list, only Puerto Rico.

Also, for most of you, just know that most Samoans that live in America Samoa don't want statehood. They are perfectly fine with the status quo. Most Samoans don't want to become a state because that would mean they have to get rid of their tribal laws and customs which they cherish. Those traditions are a huge part of their culture.

The USVI, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are probably too small to become states and I'm not sure that most of the residents of those territories want to become states.

[parochial boy]

With the consent of their populations*, the US should purchase all of the United Kingdom's Caribbean overseas territories, along with Bermuda, and incorporate them, with the U.S. Virgin Islands, into a new 'Caribbean Islands' state.

The combined population of all the British territories is around 220,000. The U.S. Virgin Islands is around 106,000.

326,000 is about a respectable enough population for a tiny state. Or would it be a huge state?

* Would be fascinating to know how *those* referenda would go. These places don't have meaningful connections to the United Kingdom - not like, say, Gibraltar or The Falkland Islands.

Though I remember talk of Bermuda joining Canada.

The main reason they keep the status quo on those islands is that there is basically no way of them getting a better deal than they already have.

No way are the Cayman Islands or BVI going to want to have to turn around to all the investment funds and shell companies and say "hey guys, sorry, but you're going to have to pay US corporate tax and follow US financial reporting and transparency regulations now" - as nice as the idea might sound.

[Storr]

I voted Puerto Rico and a combined Guam + CNMI. The former is obvious why it should be a state, so I will discuss my thoughts on the latter.

Since they both are in the same island chain (the Marianas) and have shared cultural identities it makes sense for there to be one political/governmental body for the islands' residents. Both territories' native groups are Chamorro people and were only separated by colonialism (similar to the Samoan people). The current combined population is small, at around 215,000, but not unprecedented for statehood. Alaska had 226,167 in 1960 (statehood in 1959), Arizona had 204,354 in 1910 (statehood in 1912), Montana had 142,924 in 1890 (statehood in 1890), Idaho had 88,548 in 1890 (statehood in 1890), Wyoming had 62,555 in 1890 (statehood in 1890), North Dakota had 190,983 in 1890 (statehood in 1889), Colorado had 194,327 in 1870 (statehood in 1876), Nebraska had 122,993 in 1870 (statehood in 1867), Nevada had 42,941 in 1870 (statehood in 1864), Kansas had 107,206 in 1860 (statehood in 1861), and finally Oregon had 52,465 in 1860 (statehood in 1859).
American Samoa is simply too far away, even in the age of jet travel, to be in the same governmental entity as the Marianas. AS is 3,596 miles away from Guam! Thus, that is why I did not select the last option on the list.

The reason I did not select the USVI is that it is simply too small. In 2010 the population was 106,405. If the US was to somehow come into possession of the BVI (pop. 38,802 in 2018), I'd be more receptive to the idea of statehood (the BVI already uses the US dollar as its currency anyway). Adding some other nearby islands that are still not independent of colonial powers would further boost prospects in my mind (UK: Anguilla pop. 14,731 Netherlands: Sint Maarten pop. 41,940, Sint Eustatius pop. 2,739, Saba pop. 1,915 France: Saint Marten (which as a collectivity is not part of the EU like French Guyana, Guadeloupe, or Martinique) pop. 37,264, and Saint Barthélemy pop. 9,625). If all of those territories, which currently belong to other countries, decided to join a new Leeward Antilles state, the population would only be 253,421. That's large enough for statehood in my opinion, but it would still take quite a lot to go right for that to happen. Even if we added the next several closest islands until one reaches Guadeloupe (Antigua and Barbuda pop. 96,286, Saint Kitts and Nevis pop. 52,441, and Monserrat pop. 5,197) which as I mentioned earlier is a part of the EU and would make any kind of annexation/merger/purchase much more difficult, the new state's population would only be 407,315. Basically as it is, the USVI is too small to be a state and the chances of being able to gain more territory to combine with it are slim to none.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Let Samoa be a state! If the Republicans get two Dakotas we can have Samoa, who cares how many people it has.

American Samoa is quite purple politically, so its politics aren't what are keeping it from becoming a state.

[Santander]

They should be given the option of the status quo or free association.

[Kevin Graham]

In theory, merging Guam and CNMI sounds good but it could become the US's Belgium. I think they should all become states.

[HillGoose]

all of them + Taiwan and Israel

[Trends Are Fake]

all of them + Taiwan and Israel

[Senator Sirius]

None of these, and none should be U.S. territories either

Do any of these places actually want independence? I don't believe they do, although I can't say for all of them, PR definitely doesn't. And I would have to imagine that such an abrupt and unwanted independence would be disastrous for them with all US support suddenly gone.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

Its gonna be very difficult even if Dems get 55 seats to get statehood, the minority has many tools as delaying tactics to not allow a bill come to the floor. Cruz and McConnell vow to use them if they are in the minority.

The only plausible statehood is DC statehood.

PR statehood wont happen

We already have a Pandemic crisis, many blue collar Latinos and AA are in the system already with kids with Covid 19

[Former President tack50]

In theory, merging Guam and CNMI sounds good but it could become the US's Belgium. I think they should all become states.

This might be a hot take, but Puerto Rico is very likely to become America's Quebec anyways, so I'd argue PR would be the bigger headache

[Trends Are Fake]

Its gonna be very difficult even if Dems get 55 seats to get statehood, the minority has many tools as delaying tactics to not allow a bill come to the floor. Cruz and McConnell vow to use them if they are in the minority.

The only plausible statehood is DC statehood.

PR statehood wont happen

We already have a Pandemic crisis, many blue collar Latinos and AA are in the system already with kids with Covid 19

Both parties have PR statehood in their platform and there's a good chance that PR would be a wash for both parties once admitted. This post is balderdash.