January 31, 2025


The Trump Presidency Highlights the Consequences of Colonialism and the Need for Puerto Rican Independence

As we expected, the first few days of President Trump’s second term have been an unmitigated disaster for Puerto Ricans on the island and in the United States.

We are already witnessing the persecution of our people and our neighbors. Puerto Ricans have been wrongly detained by immigration agents in multiple cities. ICE raids are terrorizing neighborhoods in San Juan. They will soon go into churches, schools, and hospitals to hunt down people trying to make a better life in Puerto Rico.

The Trump administration has already frozen billions in infrastructure funding for Puerto Rico. Tens of billions more could be lost if Trump follows through with eliminating FEMA. While apparently rescinded, the proposed freeze on federal grants and loans would have paused billions of dollars in critical funding for Puerto Rico. Food assistance, child care, health care, and education were all at risk, and could be again at the whims of the federal government.

Unfortunately, these actions are abetted by Puerto Rico’s pro-statehood government, namely Governor Jenniffer González, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump who has stated that she will follow the President’s orders to the letter.

Trump, González, and their administrations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico deserve plenty of blame for these catastrophic actions. But ultimately these are the consequences of colonialism, which has caused Puerto Rico’s massive economic dependence on the United States, while giving the U.S. government absolute power over our nation.

At this moment, the fight for Puerto Rico’s sovereignty is more urgent than ever. We can no longer afford to pretend that the United States will grant Puerto  Rico statehood—which it has refused to do for 126 years and which is vehemently opposed by Republicans and ignored by Democrats. And even if Puerto Rico became a state, it would remain at the mercy of racist leaders and discriminatory policies that harm our people.

We can no longer afford to be neutral about Puerto Rico: to support “decolonization” or “self-determination” while staying silent on how the island’s colonial status should end. This approach has failed and has only served to further the island’s subjugation.

Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora (BUDPR), and our allies on the island and in the United States, will continue to lead that fight. Our message is loud and clear:

The only thing that can save Puerto Rico from Trump is independence.
The only thing that can save Puerto Rico from colonialism is independence.

 

Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora
DSA International Committee