They are essentially the same as anyone born in rest of the USA except: 1) usually don't have to pay federal income taxes (but do pay other federal taxes) 2) can't vote for presidency or congressmen and thus don't get federal political representation. But you still get all other American rights, e.g. speech, guns, religion, etc. imho thats a good tradeoff, congress and president are always terrible in my lifetime so I'd rather not vote and not pay taxes. I am not Puerto Rican but what public articles I've read and folks I've met from there generally seem to favor this balance of not voting but lower taxes. Most of the benefits with a lot less cost.