ORLANDO, Fla. — A new report from the Pew Research Center shows 81 percent of young Hispanics in the U.S. younger than 35 were born here.

  • Miss Universe Puerto Rico wants to help young Hispanics 
  • Madison Anderson Berrios, born in US, speaks little Spanish
  • 81 percent of young Hispanics in the US younger than 35

But the growing population of American-born Hispanics is not always accepted in their community.

That’s why Miss Universe Puerto Rico, Madison Anderson Berrios, said she wants to help the new generation of the Hispanic community.

She’s been told she’s not Puerto Rican because she was born in the mainland, speaks little to no Spanish, and some go as far as to attack her for how she looks — blonde hair, tall, and fair skin.

“I wouldn’t accept saying something. I’m not Puerto Rican, because I am Puerto Rican. I identify as Puerto Rican,” Berrios said. “My mother is Puerto Rican.”

It’s an attack many other young Hispanics experience as well. There are about 59 million Latinos in the U.S. Eighty-one percent of young Hispanics, ages 35 or younger, were born in the States.

“You know, it’s something people need to understand is that I can’t choose where I was born,” Berrios said. “I can’t choose what language I was taught. You know what I can choose? What I represent.”

Another issue young Hispanics face is not always being able to speak Spanish. A Pew Research Center report shows 87 percent of U.S. born-Hispanics feel speaking Spanish is unnecessary to be considered Hispanic, as do 55 percent immigrant-born Hispanics in the states.

“The family on my mother’s side always spoke Spanish to me,” Berrios said. “I would always just respond in English so I understand it perfectly but to speak it, well, I didn’t need to because I was in the states.”

She said the meaning of being Hispanic is simple.

“Being loving, making a negative situation into something positive. We are very passionate in everything we do when it comes to our work field, when it comes to our community that to me is being Latino,” Berrios said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Madison Anderson Berrios's first name. We regret the error, and it has been corrected.