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Mayor of San Juan Says Puerto Ricans Haven’t Received Relief Funds

HeadlineApr 29, 2020

A new survey by the Economic Policy Institute finds millions of U.S. workers who’ve lost their jobs have been unable to file for unemployment benefits, with state agencies unable to keep up with the sheer volume of new claims. This comes as the official U.S. unemployment rate is set to reach 16% or higher this month — levels not seen since the Great Depression. In Puerto Rico, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz says residents of the U.S. territory have yet to receive promised relief during an island-wide coronavirus lockdown. She spoke with MSNBC on Saturday.

Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz: “No one in Puerto Rico has received the $1,200 from the federal government. We are having problems with the local $500 that the governor said that it was going to distribute. There’s more than 130,000 unemployment requests that have not been filled. The same thing with people getting food stamps.”

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