Minnesota lawmakers and residents with ties to Puerto Rico called on the federal government Monday to do more to help the hurricane-ravaged island — and implored Minnesotans to get involved if official aid is delayed or denied.
Minnesota Legislature's two Puerto Rican members — DFL Sen. Melisa Franzen, of Edina, and DFL Rep. Carlos Mariani, of St. Paul — and other elected officials and community members said Monday at the State Capitol that many communities on the island of 3.5 million people are without water, food and medical supplies nearly two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit.
Several speakers said they're frustrated the federal government has been slower to send aid to the U.S. territory than it has after other recent disasters in the continental states. They also said that local and state governments, businesses and individual residents may need to step in to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
Franzen, who grew up in Puerto Rico, said her grandmother is without an oxygen machine and the hospital in her town is closed and nearing collapse.
"People are going to die if we don't get to them," Franzen said.
Several speakers said they are frustrated and confused by the federal response to the storm, and particularly by President Donald Trump's Twitter attacks on the mayor of the Puerto Rican capital city of San Juan.
In a series of tweets, Trump praised relief efforts in Puerto Rico, accused the mayor of "poor leadership" and said Puerto Ricans should be less dependent on federal help after the storm.
"They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort," he wrote.