Hispanic Federation on Release of Puerto Rico Disaster Aid

NEW YORK, Sept. 19 -- The Hispanic Federation issued the following statement by President Frankie Miranda:

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Hispanic Federation, which has been leading a $43 million disaster relief program on Puerto Rico since 2017, issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration's approval of $13 billion in aid for the island.

Frankie Miranda, President of Hispanic Federation:

"For three years, officials, aid organizations, and Puerto Ricans have been asking the Federal Government to provide the level of aid needed to rebuild after Hurricane Maria and the 2020 earthquakes. For three years we have been met with bureaucracy and barriers, unique to this recovery process, and seemingly designed to keep Puerto Rico from accessing the aid any other part of the country would receive in a disaster.

Today, as many of us prepare to honor the more than 3,000 lives that were lost to this tragedy, President Trump seems to believe that using Federal funds as a payoff will earn him political points in the upcoming election. He is wrong.

Those of us who have been on the ground rebuilding the island and the hundreds of thousands forced to migrate can recognize a political stunt when we see it--because we have seen it before. The aid is needed, and will be used, but we will never forget the insults and the damage this Administration has caused to so many American lives."