Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday took a swipe at former President Trump on Twitter after visiting her unwell grandmother in Puerto Rico and seeing the persisting effects of Hurricane Maria more than three years later.
“Just over a week ago, my abuela fell ill. I went to Puerto Rico to see her- my 1st time in a year+ bc of COVID,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.
“This is her home. Hurricane María relief hasn’t arrived. Trump blocked relief $ for PR. People are being forced to flee ancestral homes, & developers are taking them,” the New York congresswoman added, sharing photos of her grandmother’s home still bearing the damages caused by the 2017 hurricane.
Ocasio-Cortez stated that her grandmother was doing “okay,” but called attention to the “thousands of people” who don’t have a place to go.
“What’s happening to Puerto Ricans is systemic. Much of it can be traced to La Junta, aka the Wall Street-connected fiscal control board that the US gave power to over the island,” Ocasio-Cortez added, referring to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, a non-elected government authority that many Puerto Ricans view as threat to their democratic rights.
“I want to be clear – while Trump admin had a major role, it wasn’t just them. La Junta, local policies, etc were all on the same page: policies that pushed out local families,” she continued. “To turn this around, we need audits & get recovery relief to people ASAP, without the onerous strings.”
In February, the Biden administration moved to free up $1.3 billion in relief funding for Puerto Rico that had been placed under restrictions by the Trump administration. Two months later, in April, the administration released an additional $8 billion in disaster funding while also lifting restrictions that curtailed how the funds could be used.
At the time of the funds’ release, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said it would lift “onerous restrictions” put in place by the Trump administration.
Hurricane Maria decimated much of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure, destroying power lines, hospitals and clean water sources. Congress allocated more than $60 billion to rebuild Puerto Rico after the hurricane, but so far only a fraction of that amount has been released.