21 States in the US Have Smaller Populations Than Puerto Rico

[MineralMan]

The population of Puerto Rico is 3,411,307.

The closest to its population, but less, is Iowa, with a population of 3,134,693. The state with the lowest population is Wyoming, with just 585,501 people. In between are 19 states, all of which have fewer people in residence than our largest Caribbean territory. These include states like Mississippi, Kansas, both Dakotas and Alaska.

Hawaii, our only island state, has a much smaller population than Puerto Rico, at 1,428,557.

Puerto Rico is our largest territory, by far.

How can we ignore Puerto Rico and its inhabitants who are US Citizens?

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_population

[guillaumeb]

1. Non-US resident Puerto Ricans cannot vote in the US.

So Trump has no need for them.

[MineralMan]

2. Trump may well find, though, that they are the albatross around

his neck pretty soon.

[guillaumeb]

3. So we all hope.

Even more media coverage is needed. MSNBC had some this morning, but much more is needed.

[treestar]

4. They could be

Related to the resident ones. It is said there are more Puerto Ricans in New York than in Puerto Rico.

[MineralMan]

6. Good point!

[guillaumeb]

8. And they might exert pressure locally.

More media focus is necessary.

[dalton99a]

5. As of 2010, the Veterans Affairs Department listed Puerto Rico's veterans at 116,029

As of 2010, the Veterans Affairs Department listed Puerto Rico’s veterans at 116,029. More than 1,225 Puerto Ricans have died while serving for the United States.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/974518/puerto-ricans-represented-throughout-us-military-history/

[MineralMan]

7. Yes!

[Igel]

9. It's not ignored.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/fema-chief-brock-long-says-puerto-rico-relief-most-logistically-n806401

It was slammed by two hurricanes. We want this to be like a category 1 hurricane hitting Georgia when it's the result of two cat 4-5 hurricanes hitting a large-ish island in the ocean. "Unprecedented" has become a word bleached by having everything unprecedented. But Puerto Rico's state is pretty drastic. It means all the manuals for relief have to be rewritten. Fly in millions of MREs and they sit waiting for the roads to be cleared. Distribute medicines and they spoil because there aren't enough generators and the electrical grid's still trashed.

That 1/3 with cell phone access? Probably along the coast, major towns. But still the impression given from all the tweets from PR is that nobody has phone access. (Really? We're watching uploaded video saying that there's no phone or Internet access?)

Things like this certainly don't help: http://abcnews.go.com/US/flash-flooding-expected-hurricane-ravaged-puerto-rico/story?id=50196306


Now, you want ignored? The USVI. https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/hurricane-maria-caribbean-impacts-us-virgin-islands-dominica-guadeloupe

In fact, the relief efforts for the USVI compete with the efforts for PR. The supplies needed are the same, the means of transportation are the same. The population's smaller, to be sure, as is the land mass, so there are fewer areas that are truly isolated to worry about. Mostly black. No large emigre constituency in the US, no big push for statehood or independence. And the average income is much higher than PR's. So the reasons for ignoring it are fairly clear. Still, it was smacked, and smacked hard.

The USVI had a mobile radar after Irma hit. It was packed up and returned to the USVI after Maria. Don't know how many of those they had laying around.

And past the USVI?

It wasn't just US territories that were hit.