Verified answer

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands compete directly at the Miss Universe pagent against all candidates from the world, including Miss USA. And as a matter of fact, Puerto Rico has defeated USA several times at the Miss Universe pagent.

Surely a puertorrican resident of (for one example) New York can compete for the Miss New York title and then (if winning) compete for the Miss America title against all Misses from the other states. If winning again that puertorrican Miss America would compete against the Miss Puerto Rico and all other Misses from the world.

On the other hand, how different are the judges at the Miss Universe pagent than the judges at the Miss America pagent? If a candidate from PR can defeat the Miss USA (from California) at Miss Universe... would the judges at the Miss America pagent select that puertorrican woman if she competed as Miss New York vs the same woman from California? Not sure if judges at the Miss USA pagent use the same criteria as the judges at the international Miss Universe pagent.