what is the status of efforts to make puerto rico estate? guest: for the record, the question of whether puerto ricof efforts to make puerto rico estate? will be the next state or will --an independent country when the first puerto ricans , you have latin american countries in terms of -- rightand culture now a majority of puerto ricans are in the united states. you have this fusion of cultures. how do you reconcile the fact you have a nation, and how you bring that nation into another nation? that is the dilemma we need to resolve. receive thisady to group of people that will not look like any other state even though they have a large ethnic native population. is a situation puerto rico and the united states need to face head-on. our guest has been edwin melendez. thank you so much for being with us. my pleasure. thank you for the invitation. " washington journal," with news that impacts you. tomorrow, the state of race relations in the u.s.. a look at the cost of illegal immigration on taxpayers with the federation for american reform. a re

if you have ties to the island of puerto rico, either living here or you have relatives in puerto rico know, we would love to hear from you on a special line, (202)-748-8003. edwin melendez, how difficult is it, how much more difficult is it for puerto rico in this situation, not, or example, to have a stronger representative presence in the u.s. congress? as you know, that has been an issue forever, the fact that we only have someone that can speak, but not vote on most matters. have fourd that, we or five puerto ricans in congress and they had played a tremendous leadership role throughout the financial crisis and the hurricane disaster, so and we have a diaspora concentrated in florida, and new york, it is the national capital of media, and in florida, it is a swing state where a lot of people pay attention, so that distribution, pennsylvania, illinois, all of those are they havecases, where local state, registrations and the like. they are influential and can move the needle where it needs to be done, but obviously, long-term, we have to rethink the relationship between puerto rico

you talk about puerto rico.ble toico that isn't choose the president of the united states, but is a part of the united states. >> yes. there used to be a saying that puerto rico had the best of both worlds in its relationship. that i think increasingly, people have come to realize it has the worst of both worlds. it shares the same kind of environmental vulnerability to these kind of storms of the caribbean nations face, but at the same time, it is not able to rally with its neighbors. in addition to the environmental vulnerability, it has economic one or ability discuss these high rates of an employment. it has infrastructure vulnerability because of its great the crisis. it is unable to attend to its power grid, to its water supply for over a decade. it also has great political vulnerability because it has no representation in congress. the island aren nobody's constituents. nobody is watching out for them. you have people like booze could terrace and velazquez who respond in part and partly because they have

>> this is devastation, that is puerto rico, not a puerto rico we saw a week ago. we are surviving three major disasters. the financial dire situation regards back home, hurricane irma and now hurricane maria that makes things worse. i arrived lasted night from the island. so i was there, i will tell you this, seeing the coast guard and the military operations, there are, they have been taken there, moving patients to dialysis is hard. even the puerto rican people are patient from the mainland because we don't have enough resources working at full capacity. they're crippled. they're working with generators, except just one hospital that got electricity. the rest of the island is without power, without communications. so that made things worse and if it's not for fema and the 10,000 people down on the ground in the island, making things happen with the logistics, with the air national guard and all the national guard that are being deployed, there are many states, indiana, virginia, many other places, i don't know what will be for the island, but we still need a lot

>> well, puerto rico is a u.s.tory, and the president -- i'm grateful for the fact he continues to stand to put america first, and he wants us as a nation to show respect to our flag, so i respect the president. i respect his strong stance he is taking right now to bring this country together and to show respect, to bring us together, unity under the flag, the red, white and blue, the stars and stripes. that's something young people are watching right now. frankly the division we see on the fields on the sunday, the nfl, they are not helping to bring this country together. >> again, i would only say the divisions are not only on the nfl field. some people are seeing divisions coming from the white house as well. i do want to move on. you talked about concern for the people in puerto rico. your fellow republican senator wrote the crisis for these americans needs more attention and urgency, the potable water problems are substantial. >> i agree. i agree. senator rubio was there surveying the damage just yet. the imag

i grew up in puerto rico. my brother lives in puerto rico. they are facing devastating challenges. this president to go out and insult one of the local leaders who is doing her damndest to keep her people away, wading in black floodwater, to try to save the 3.5 million citizens in puerto rico, it is shameful. it's disgraceful. until this president gets his butt off of the golfing range and gets down to puerto rico and is able will to also get his waist deep in the black floodwater and roll up his sleeves and help these people that he is the president of, he needs to shut the "f" up, put down twitter, and figure out what it means to be president for once in his miserable term. >> why would he do that particularly on the eve of getting ready to go to puerto rico and see for himself? i mean, does this become potentially tantamount to president bush saying you're doing a heck of a job, brown. this president saying -- brownie. this president saying workers are doing a fantastic job, at the same time people are dying, people are doing without. might this be a bane to the trump presidency

you're restoring puerto rico.gin islands and making sure people who need health care and food and adequate supplies are being cared for and supported. you don't do that in the context when we don't have sufficient resources or response, and you make this personal or partisan. it's irresponsible to behave in such a manner. it was congress who said you have to do something about the jones act. there was no leadership from the white house or federal government. it was the hispanic caucus and leaders who said you have to have a disaster czar. you need somebody with experience on the ground. you get people making statements without going to puerto rico who then go to puerto rico and they're not having that same white house response. they are saying we are not satisfied with our response. we are not there yet. there are real problems here. because there's no way if you're on the ground to continue that line of communication that we're doing a great job with 11,000 people. it's not true. >> and you are out of your voice

of puerto rico. there is no communications. we can do that. we can set up places for water. our military has apart from its fire and fury during times of war, as trump likes to talk about them, they have immense capacity to bring about the peaceful reconstruction of puerto rico and bring the supplies that are necessary there. >> this morning the governor of puerto rico said that the federal response had been excellent, he said president trump had been diligent. do you think those are political statements or do you think that this is just frankly, congressman, such aassive hit that puerto rico has ten that there are so many needs that are so great that they're doing truly everything that they can? >> here's what i say about what the governor of puerto rico said. i'm not going to take exception to anything he said. he has a huge, mammoth of -- this is unprecedented. this is a category 5 that went right through the island of puerto rico, devastating all of the island of puerto rico. wow, you know, i'm n

he tweeted some (bleep) about puerto rico.e wasn't quick to get rid off the jones act, but he hasn't been the only reason puerto rico is struggling right now. as it turns out, there are at least some emergency supplies that are reaching puerto rico. the problem is once they reach the island, there is another issue. >> supplies arrived but they're not getting delivered to the 3.4 american citizens on the island. >> more than 3,000 shipping containers are sitting at the port of san juan. >> there is water. >> there is a short of truck drivers to help deliver the essentials. if you want to drive a truck in puerto rico, here's the number the government's office just gave me. >> trevor: wait a second, puerto rico just needs truck drivers? maybe trump can help after all, huh? come on! he spent his whole presidency learning to drive trucks. finally it paid off! and you thought he wasn't being presidential! that was practice! ( laughter ) i know this isn't a popular phrase on this show, but in donald trump's defense -- ( booing ) -- b

as 70 people are in puerto rico. if you could first respond to the catastrophe in your island and how u.s. government, the majority of americans do not realize puerto ricans are u.s. citizens, how the u.s. government has responded to the climate catastrophe. it is been too little too late. as you mentioned, this full issue of the jones act, which nelson wrote a fabulous piece in "the new york times just this week, is one of the key problems still bedeviling puerto rico. you mentioned the jones act was suspended just this year to benefit texas in florida during the hurricanes harvey and irma. but there have been previously -- previous suspensions of the jones act. during hurricane katrina, the bush and administration waived the jones act for a period of time to help people of new orleans as well as during hurricane rita that occurred that same year in 2005, and arne -- and duringdy superstorm sandy, the obama administration suspended the jones act for a period of time to allow other foreign vessels to come in and assis

it's going to occur in portions of puerto rico.m line is nobody inside the federal emergency management agency wants everybody to go without food and water. we bust our rear ends. these guys are incredibly dedicated. at the end of the day we can't do it all by ourselves. the governor is stepping up. he's trying to muster his people back in place and eventually we're able to queue more organizations in. the in some cases you have the citizens coming back home and help. be able to be resource fut as well. >> safe travels. thanks so much for your time. appreciate it. thank so much for being with moo this saturday. we'll have much more straight ahead in the news room. ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ can i kick it? ♪ yes you can ♪ well i'm gone when food is good and clean and real, it's ok to crave. and with panera catering, there's more to go around. panera. food as it should be. that just tastes better. with more vitamins. and 25% less saturated fat. only eggland's best. better taste. better nutrition. better eggs.

where does that leave the people of puerto rico? the united states citizens of puerto rico? joining us now on the phone from san juan is puerto rico's secretary of state luis rivera marin. thanks for joining us again. i want to ask, in your view, what is the most urgent need at this hour? >> thank you for having us again, nicolle. it's been a week now since we had a direct hit of probably one of the most devastating hurricanes in the nation's history. as an island, our most urgent need is telecom where we have isolated areas on the island because of all the debris in the roads it's been hard to reach many of our remote towns. also diesel distribution has been a challenge for us, and that's -- yesterday the governor assigned me the responsibility of making sure diesel is distributed for power plants around hospitals. and vegetables and basic food products. and we've been receiving loads of tanks because of the amounts of diesel that need to be distributed. certainly it's a logistical challenge that it's been normalized. we have 1,100 gas stations in the island and 24 of those

theif you have ties to island of puerto rico, either you are living here or have relatives in puerto rico, we would love to hear from you on a special line. (202) 748-8003. edwin melendez, how much more difficult is it for puerto rico in this situation not, for to have a stronger representative presence in the u.s. congress? mr. melendez: as you know, that has been an issue for ever, the fact that we only have someone that can speak but not vote on most matters. have fourd that, we infive puerto ricans congress. they play a tremendous leadership role. they helped avoid the financial crisis, and now disaster. have someone who is concentrating on very important states. new york is the national capital of --, and florida is a state that a lot of pay attention to. has distribution, and then in connecticut, illinois, pennsylvania -- all of those are important places where the puerto rican elective officials are working in local and state legislatures and the like. they are very influential and can move the needle when it needs to be done, but long-term we have to rethink the whole relation

>> well, puerto rico has been an island for as long as it's been puerto rico so the idea is this is surprisingins the delay is sort of just not accurate. for, since puerto rico has been part of the united states, there has been training and exercises to assist in the potential that puerto rico does suffer a hurricane. so going back a little bit, four days before the hurricane hit, we were well aware the hurricane was going to hit. and so, puerto rico was waiting. that kind of -- and ready. that kind of planning is anticipated by texas and florida and all these other states that are going to surge resources to puerto rico. and so the idea that puerto rico might be isolated crossed everyone's mind beforehand, that's why there is a lot of emphasis on boats and ships and helicopters and planes to be able to get resources to puerto rico quickly. this idea that somehow we're all surprised and first responders are surprised as an island is sort of humorous if it weren't so tragic. >> even the governor of the puerto rico has said the government has been provided. how does it work in terms of sending r

puerto rico ha aguantado eso.e la ayuda no estÁ llegando. marÍa: la manifestaciÓn aÚn continÚa y ellos seguirÁn aquÍ exigiendo que los productos lleguen a los damnificados de puerto rico lo mÁs antes posible. marÍa, para univisiÓn 65. ilia: hablamos de una manifestaciÓn que se estÁ llevando a cabo para quÉ los suministros que van a porto rico sean entregados por el ejÉrcito. reportera: buenas tardes, ilia. hace unos minutos se acabÓ un evento para celebrar el mes de la hispanidad y tambiÉn para contribuir. inicialmente la feria era para entretener a los niÑos. en esta iniciativa sea un comerciante hispano habrÍa comenzado su propia recaudaciÓn. hable con los que estaban detrÁs de esta feria. antes de que comenzara la feria y esto es lo que nos dijeron. >> tenemos tres festivales planificados. tenÍamos planificado esto y cuando pasÓ el huracÁn, hicimos esta campaÑa para recolectar las donaciones. queremos llevarle todo puerto rico. reportera: por el momento se estÁ llevando a cabo esto y se estÁ hablando de reparti

>>arriba la isla bella de puerto rico.o siguen en este edificio colapsado de ciudad de mÉxico. julio: en otras 37 edificaciones fueron recuperado todos los cuerpos estaban bajo los escombros. la cifra de muertos asciende a 344. periodista: en el dinero que grabÓ uno de los familiares, se ve un hueco por el que los rescatistas bajaron para buscar los cuerpos sin vida envueltos en sÁbanas. >> cuando yo subo se alcanza a ver un cuerpo envuelto en una sÁbana rosa. periodista: cada una de las horas de espera trae consigo la esperanza de encontrar sobrevivientes en lo que quedÓ de este edificio, pero lamentablemente sÓlo encuentran cadÁveres. >> de falsa informaciÓn, esperanza y fe. periodista: las autoridades aseguran que han hecho todo lo posible para encontrar con vida a sus seres queridos pero el tiempo se agota. >> la certidumbre de que hay un hallazgo. periodista: esta noticia desanima a los rescatistas que ofrecen su esfuerzo para sacar de los escombros a las personas y mantiene la fe hasta el final. >> te parte el corazÓ

in the case of puerto rico, that model will not work.it will not work because as i said earlier the financial and fiscal constraints they face reo have limited its capacity to build its and respond on its own. they've just finished repairing the damage from irma. there's literally not enough basic things like wooden poles to hold up the electric lines or transformers to attach to them.y or even the lines themselves of the fuel to power the cruise to get to the worksite. it won't work because in many cases the government does nott have a full assessment of the storm because well in san juan, medication is severely limited in most of the other islands communication is nonexistent. i looked at that firsthand yesterday. as much of the response that their conduct and there is limited to a paper map on a wall was sticking out pants and for land lines to hope people can call in and give them updates. hopefully that has improved over the last 24 hours.puerto but, we still have large parts of puerto rico that have not communicated with the rest o

it has not been waived for puerto rico. senator mccain has called for it to be waived and people of puerto rico have asked for it to be waived and it has not, and we are getting different responses as to why, but bureaucracy should not get in the way of this if it can help the people of puerto rico, should it? >> no, it should not. the ability for the united states government to support them is a lot better, and frankly the government -- you look at what abbott and scott are doing, governor abbott and governor scott are doing, the local preparedness. they could respond. puerto rico has none of the infrastructure and none of the resources. plus, you can ship and truck and fly things into texas and into florida, and you have to barge large things, you know, a seven-day barge trip to get things into puerto rico. i talked to senator marco rubio yesterday and he was down there a couple days ago and he is sounding the alarm this could make katrina look like, you know, a minor problem that puerto rico is potentially facing. i thin

i grew up in new york so i know many people from puerto rico. i know many puerto ricans and these are great people, and we have to help them. the island is devastated. some people say, i read this morning it was literally destroyed, the infrastructure was in bad shape as you know in puerto rico before the storm, and now in many cases it has no infrastructure. you are really starting from almost scratch. these are great people. they are wonderful people. it are hardy people they will be back, but we are helping them, i mean, i think we're getting really good marks for the work we are doing. we are literally landing water, food, supplies on an hourly basis. and this is to airport that has been devastated. we're not talking about runways that are open and, you know, please land your plane to is our airports, these runways are devastated and broken. the airports are broken so those people are very important to all of us. i think i can speak for everybody sitting around the stable. so we are working very hard on puerto rico, and we're also getting tre

hoy visitÓ puerto rico la secretaria de seguridad interna, lo primero que hizo fue aclarar su propiaaraciÓn de la casa blanca, cuando dijo que el desastre en la isla era una buena noticia.en puerto rico aseguran que son muchos mÁs hacia-- los muertos que los que dieron a conocer. miles de soÑadores libran una carrera contra el tiempo para renovar los permisos de dac antes dela 5 de octubre. comienza la ediciÓn nocturna. ♪ ♪ ♪ locutor: este es su noticiero univisiÓn, edición nocturna con ilia calderÓn y enrique acevedo. ilia: buenas noches, comenzamos esta ediciÓn especial de la ediciÓn nocturna desde la isla de puerto rico. me encuentro en una localidad llamada piÑones, en el municipio de eloÍsa. un Área muy golpeada. el gobierno del presidente trump intentÓ acelerar la respuesta de rescate y de recuperaciÓn de puerto rico. el nuevo jefe militar de la isla reconociÓ que el pentÁgono no ha hecho lo suficiente por responder a la emergencia. la secretarÍa interina, hizo un sobrevuelo, visitÓ la isla y claudia estuvo con ella. claudia: esperamos en la capital desde muy temprano en un avi

puerto rico still in dire need of

they talked about his trip to puerto rico. after his meeting governor scott spoke with reporters. >> good afternoon. i finished lunch with the president and vice president. and we talked about two things. we talked about irma and puerto rico. with regard to irma our state has come back strong. people are back in business. the long-term damage is the key. they get nine -- wind and rain. not is assues i have great cleanup and we has still have housing issues. withe working with fema regard to housing and will continue to work with them. our terrorism industry is kind back strong. -- we have a lot of water. we had to evacuate around lake okeechobee. the can -- the waters continue to rise. it's important for the government to become our partner and get this done. we have spent $50 million and that president has committed to be a partner. we need to get repairs to the day done as soon as spent $50 md multiple. -- soon as possible. puerto rico, is an island with a lot of mountains. -- soon as possible. the whole place was devastated

julie: more help is on the way to puerto rico. pentagon officials saying 1400 more national guard troops are expected to arrive on the island this weekend with. even so, the mayor of san juan says the island could be without power for months. mike tobin is live in san juan with the very latest on the situation there. hey, mike. >> reporter: hi there, julie. well, the mayor and president are engaged in this twitter war, the governor says this is a crisis and there are other priorities. >> our priorities at this juncture keep being food delivery, delivery of gas, making sure that the hospitals are working, making sure we can get more hospitals online, that they get their diesel and their fuel. >> reporter: the administrator at san jorge children's hospital says this province is about to make a transition from humanitarian crisis to health crisis. you have 51 hospitals across the island that are running right now, most of them on emergency generators. those are intended to be temporary solutions. they run out of fuel, eventually the

scott: my job is to be responsive to what the governor of puerto rico wants. he is going through an unbelievable crisis. as he finds his needs, i will do everything we can. what we have done so far is -- if you have puerto rican students coming to our state for college or university on a we will get you in state jewish and. -- in-state tuition. a lot of the shipping to puerto rico -- i have been talking to our ports. how can we get more products they are, whether it is the generators or support services? [indiscernible] work in avril, everglades, palm beach, and miami. but we did yesterday and today piecet went piece by through all of the types of issues, no different than what we have been through. i went through hurricane before i was governor. tell me your problem and i will see if i can help you at the state level. or if it is something in the private sector. i've talked to our power companies to say, how can we be helpful? >> [inaudible] do you think the criticism is justified for the response? gov. scott: the president gave us a declaration that was signi

puerto rico needs u.s. military disaster and humanitarian assistance to maintain order and provide security and water, food and fuel. puerto rico needs additional first responders and they need generators, emergency vehicles, and fuel. also pert poart needs to see -- also puerto rico needs to see that its government, the united states government, they need to see us respond the way we have for other disasters. there isn't be a double standard when it comes to americans. we are one country. we are one nation. whether it was hurricane sandy in new jersey and new york or hurricane harvey or hurricane irma, when our nation sees a natural disaster destroy and take out homes and take lives and knock out power, when a challenge like that comes to the united states of america, we must be there for our citizens. yet, i read one heartbreaking story of so many heartbreaking stories. and this just shows the lack of urgency, the lack of being present, the lack of being there what we're needed. "the washington post" repo

#voices for puerto rico. #puerto rican lives matter.author of that text is the actor luis guzman and joins me now. good to have you with me. do you think that was appropriate? >> very appropriate. >> why? >> well, you know what, this man is really self-serving. people are dying. and to be putting out things on twitter that he does, you know, why don't he roll up his sleeves and go to puerto rico and get his feet wet and see the suffering that's going on there with our people. instead of sending out these ridiculous tweets. >> luis, the president is going to be arriving there, he said via twitter on tuesday with the first lady to see what has happened to the u.s. territory after maria. also we know that there was an issue that the nation suffered after irma came through, this one-two punch for not only puerto rico but the united states virgin islands. >> right. >> why do you think that this -- that the administration has been lax on a response to puerto rico as well as demeaning the requests of people like the mayor of san juan, when the

the president said he will head to puerto rico on tuesday.ll see if maybe his stone changes or how he addresses people there, after they said they're looking for him to do something for them. >> americans look to their president to bring reassurance. this is not that case. i want to bring in tom price here. let's talk about that. just before price resigned, the president told reporters that he didn't like the optics of tom price flying private jets because it cost taxpayers about $1 million. was it really sort of the bad headlines that did this? >> i think the number one rule of white house, as far as i learned covering him several years as a candidate is, you don't want to make the boss look bad. and the white house saying quote/unquote wanting to drain the swamp. the president himself boasted that his administration made moves that has saved millions of dollars. the other reality is tom price is already in hot water with the president. the president has said openly and privately that the republicans haven't been able to repeal and replace t

, la situaciÓn de puerto rico, va a ser extendida por mucho mÁs tiempo.e se haga mas para proveer asistencia a la isla de puerto rico. milady: sÍ, hace minutos se acabÓ una rueda de prensa philadelphia donde estuvo el alcalde con congresistas para ponerle presiÓn al congreso federal y que actÚe para ayudar puerto rico. se dice que los puertorriqueÑos son ciudadanos y no se deben tratar como una segunda clase. los recursos se movilizaron rÁpido despuÉs de los huracanes, pero no en puerto rico. y aunque el presidente suspendiÓ una ley comercial que hacÍa mÁs difÍcil la llegada de ayuda humanitaria a puerto rico, para los funcionarios dicen que esto no es suficiente, por eso estÁn pidiendo mÁs tropas militares para que lleguen a puerto rico. al momento hay pocos vehÍculos para distribuir los suministros en puerto rico hacia el interior de la isla. la falta de chÓferes, gasolina y carreteras no se pueden usar estÁn causando retraso. se reporta que se hace difÍcil llegar a los sitios de empleo por las faltas de comunicaciÓn. al momento, 10,000 contenedores con

on texas and florida and puerto rico. >> don't stop the

john torres is in puerto rico assessing the needs of the people in puerto rico. he's going to join us with the latest. what is that? it's you! it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. >>> a plea for help from puerto rico and just a moment we'll speak with the secretary of state and what's being done to save his people. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. >>> welcome back. i'm alex witt. here's what we're monitoring for you. dramatic events in puerto rico as hospitals are struggling

puerto rico being the biggest one. his legislative agenda, health care reform, tax reform, which he's supposed to talk about today. i can't help but think it's driven by two things. often with donald trump things are personal and political. the personal part here is, remember, he tried to buy the buffalo bills in 2014. okay. and i went back and looked at all his tweets when he's tweeted about the nfl and the period where he was -- where he became anti-nfl was in 2014 when he couldn't afford the buffalo bills and it was given to another bidder. he started the rants against the nfl then saying it was boring, low ratings, and they were too obsessed with the issue of concussions. so i think that's a little bit of the context and background for this. of course, politically, i can't help but think as his legislative agenda has sort of collapsed with the death of health care, now it's the third time, and not a lot of progress on other issues he does often look for these culture war fights and arguments to get in the middle of

todo esto se va a enviar para puerto rico.puedan entrar a puerto rico y proveer de toda la asistencia necesaria con personal, equipos, fondos para atender la crisis. fernando: hay una urgente necesidad de envÍo de generadores, ya que la falta de energÍa elÉctrica podrÍa prolongarse por semanas. ilia: pasamos a puebla, mÉxico, con la visita del presidente a esa zona afectada por el fenÓmeno natural. elian: es una de las poblaciones mÁs afectadas tras el terrible terremoto del 19 de septiembre. miles lo han perdido todo, lo que un dÍa fuera su patrimonio. >> desgraciadamente, una amiga falleciÓ, estÁn en el velorio, pero hay que ayudar a los demÁs. elian: el daÑo en viviendas es grande. los afectados jamÁs imaginaron que el martes por la maÑana serÍa la Última vez que diera sus propiedades intactas. >> quiÉn iba a pensar que hoy fue el Último dÍa que despertÉ en la casa. en el mismo terreno pero con una casa completamente diferente, es triste. elian: un grupo de voluntarios saliÓ a las calles a tratar de remover el escombro. alg

i grew up in new york so i know many people from puerto rico. i know many puerto ricans and these are great people. and we have to help them. the island is devastated. it's -- i mean some people say -- i read this morning, literally destroyed. the infrastructure was in bad shape as you know in puerto rico before the storm and now in many cases it has no infrastructure. so it's -- you're really starting from almost scratch. but these are great people. wonderful people. they' they're hardy people. they'll be back but we're helping them -- i think we're really getting really good marks for the work we're doing. we are literally landing water, food, supplies, on an hourly basis. and this is to an airport that has been devastated. we're not talking about runways that are open and please land your plane right here. these runways are devastated and broken. the airports are broken. so those people are very important to all of us. i think i can speak for everybody sitting around this table. so we're working very, very hard on puerto rico and we're also ge

she went on to say that puerto rico sends thousands of people every year to serve in the military. why aren't -- why aren't military officials, more, coming here to help puerto ricans? she was very emotional. this coming from a trump supporter. i heard from other people that said things to me that i cannot repeat to you on the air. many are echoing the idea -- these are hurtful comments, and they are not in tune with what they are feeling on the ground. they wanted to kind of -- a different response, a more empathetic take, perhaps, from the president of the united states. >> boris sanchez in san juan. thank you very much. puerto rico is in desperate need of food, water, all kind of necessities. paolo sandoval is live for us in new york where people are sending whatever they can to help those on the island. >> reporter: we have a few people walk into the shot, it's because there are so many people coming together in the heart of the bronx as folks are trying to gather. many of the key items that you heard from boris -- water, batteries, diapers, and the list goes on and on. many of

[no audio] --- suficientes soldados ni vehÍculos a puerto rico.e empiece a funcionar la isla, para que funcione los hospitales, los restaurante, para que vuelva la vida a la isla. ya comenzaron a llegar algunos camiones pero todavÍa hay filas que se pueden contar por millar de personas que quieren adquirir un poco de combustible. hicimos un recorrido en uno de estos camiones cisterna. reportero: el problema no es que puerto rico falte combustible. gasolina hay, lo complicado con caminos cerrados, es llevarla donde la necesitan. por eso roberto ayala tiene uno de los trabajos mÁs duros de la isla. >> lo difÍcil es el trÁfico, la carretera. la gente no quiere cooperar. reportero: lo acompaÑamos a llevar 10.000 galones a una gasolinera en las afueras de san juan. >> ahora mismo se ve un ambiente bien hostil en las estaciones. reportero: el cargamento es tan codiciado pero ayala lo lleva con escolta policial. >> la gente no respeta a nosotros como personas. hacen lo que sea para ser primero. reportero: cuando nos acercamos a la gasolinera, la cola de

", para a unirnos para rescatar a puerto rico.onsiguió, que monitorear la recaudaciÓn. tambiÉn la comunidad dominicana ayuda, por la gran poblaciÓn de dominicanos que tambiÉn viven en la isla, y que el momento se encuentran entre los damnificados.. >> hay muchos dominicanos en la isla de puerto rico, ademÁs los puertorriqueÑos son vecinos de nosotros, tenemos que ayudarnos. >> todos juntos vamos a levantar nuestra bella isla puerto rico. miladi: aunque sea dicho que filadelfia puede ser un lugar que pueda ofrecer viviendas temporaleras puertorriqueÑos desplazados. por el momento no existe ningÚn plan, pero esa decisiones entre el gobierno y el gobernador del estado. desde el centro de filadelfia, miladi. ilia: precisamente el departamento de salud julio:los equipos de rescate ni las ayudas han llegado y los destrozos son impresionantes. reportero: con la muerte llegÓ hasta este colegio. el pequeÑo bar salÍa corriendo con sus compaÑeros para ponerse a salvo. pero todo se vino abajo, todos sobrevivieron menos el, quien quedÓ atrapad

hopefully that number is a lot larger because here on the island of puerto rico, there are 3.4 million puerto ricans that live here. if you're talking about 10,000 people taking shelter and 3.4 million people in total population, that's a lot of people that may not have taken the shelter. a lot of the people that we were talking to here, they said they did live in those low-lying areas. they were showing us on the map places that flood regularly and they're terrified they'll go back to their homes and their homes may have been swept away by the winds or may be completely inundated by the storm surge. >> gadi, thanks very much. we'll stay in close contact with you at the shelter that you're at. >>> let's go back to nbc's gabe gutierrez is live in san juan. gabe, it looks like things are getting even windier where you are. are you standing in front of a pool? >> reporter: i am, stephanie. we're here at actually the condado hilton. we were on a higher floor but i had to leave that floor because it was taking on some water, the hallway was taking on some water. we're here on the ground flo

most people in the states did not know that puerto rico was part of the u.s. are american citizens from birth. we're natural born citizens. so when you don't think of puerto rico as part of the u.s., you're not going to give as generously as you gave to florida and texas and georgia and to other states, as you gave to new orleans with katrina. when they see the five former presidents of the united states asking for help for puerto rico because puerto rico is america that might help increase donations. many states things are being done. i'm personally co-chairing a campaign in new jersey and new jersey helps where people from new jersey are asked specifically to donate to a account that will be used entirely to help puerto rico. as you know in new jersey, it's one of the three or four states that most puerto ricans have on the mainland and there many people do know that we are americans. the two gubernatorial cabinets in new jersey have endorsed the program. and the best way to help is through monetary contributions because that's easier to ship to puerto rico.

y pa' delante puerto rico.a day ar a los niÑos de bajos recursos de california y que tambiÉn van ayudar a los damnificados por los terremotos en mÉxico el evento que serÁ el 30 de septiembre va a trabajar la banda el limÓn y otras agrupaciones, heraldo sÁnchez y lorenzo mÉndez. asÍ lo confirmaron. >>> estuvimos 3 dÍas antes y nos sentimos tristes, como mexicanos y ahorita, en este gran evento que se va a hacer, hacemos lo que nos gusta: >>> ojalÁ estÉ lleno el lugar en ontario y estamos unids como mexicanos en estados unidos para todos nuestros paisanos. todos nuestros paisanos. >>> exactamente, todos ♪ todos nuestros paisanos. >>> exactamente, todos ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (mÚsica) ♪ nuestro compaÑero josÉ dÍaz-balart publicÓ anoche un video en su cuenta de instagram en. dÍaz-balart en la ciudad de mÉxico cubriendo las incidencias del devastador terremoto que azotÓ a este paÍs. le hizo un llamado directo al presidente de mÉxico enrique peÑa nieto. para que haga mÁs por las vÍctimas. >>> escuchemos parte de lo que solicitÓ

do for puerto rico? >> for the rebuilding process it would be great. we could bring all the building materials for cheaper from the course of the u.s. without having to to do in u.s. flagged vessels. and the boats have to be built in the united states. which is three, four times more expensive. >> who has the power here? why wouldn't that be lifted? >> because -- i think that the jones act lobby, the people who are for it are probably one of the most powerful lob beby in t united states. >> who are they? >> the local shipbuilders. >> the workers. >> you have the rail stations. the railroad owners that want goods to be shipped by railroads and not by easier barges. i mean, it's a powerful lobby. not even the oil lobby was able to break it. >> wow. do you know who controls a lot of those u.s. rails? warren buffett. just saying. >> all right. alex, thanks very much for joining us and setting the record straight nap is the important part here between mariana and our crews down there, we're going to set the r