Trump Continues To Block Desperately Needed Puerto Rico Aid

The Trump administration announced it would continue to block desperately needed aid for Puerto Rico’s electric grid repair and other necessities while claiming they are releasing $16 billion in funds allocated by Congress. The Trump administration says it will release the aid, but the administration has created “severe” new restrictions on the funding.

According to The New York Times, Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development had up until this point only released $1.5 billion of $20 billion approved by Congress, and of that, only $5 million had been spent. The Trump administration has also not released an additional $2 billion in aid for the island’s power grid.

Terrie Rizzo, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, released the following statement demanding Donald Trump release the aid without these restrictions:

“At the same time Donald Trump has Mike Pence on parade in Florida for his ‘Latinos for Trump’ events, he is imposing harsh restrictions on long overdue aid to our fellow Americans. Trump should be ashamed of himself for his continued cruelty toward the people of Puerto Rico. We will never forget what Trump has done to our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico, and we will make sure Floridians vote Trump out in November.”

This week, FDP launched a billboard in Kissimmee where many Puerto Ricans have relocated from the island in the wake of multiple natural disasters. The FDP’s Executive Director Juan Peñalosa and local leaders held a news conference that slammed Trump for his broken promises to the Latino community and ineffective management of crises in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Florida. Last week, FDP hosted a canvass to register Latino voters in Kissimmee and launched the petition Latinos Against Trump!, an effort to collect stories of community members impacted by Trump’s destructive policies on healthcare. The petition is also available in Spanish. In addition, the Florida Democratic Party has more than 20 Hispanic campaign staff on the ground in Florida organizing efforts to defeat Trump.