Trump To Visit USVI Next Week, According to CNN

After being delayed by the passage of Hurricane Maria, President Donald Trump will visit the U.S. Virgin Islands next week, according to CNN. Mr. Trump will also visit Puerto Rico, which was ravaged by Hurricane Maria, after criticism started to mount that his administration was not doing enough to help the island commonwealth of 3 million Americans.

According to CNN, White House staffers on Monday had been planning for the president to head to the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a Puerto Rico trip to come later. Instead, Mr. Trump will visit both Puerto Rico and the USVI during his trip next week. White House officials who advance the president’s trips were notified only Tuesday morning of the change of plans, CNN added.

During a post-Hurricane Irma press briefing on September 11, Governor Kenneth Mapp said Mr. Trump wanted “to see firsthand the damages of the territory, and to get on-ground reports of the federal operation, to ensure that the people of the Virgin Islands are receiving recovery as fast as humanly possible, and that the assets of the federal government were being appropriately deployed.” Mr. Trump said he loves the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the territory’s governor.

The advent of the president of the United States to the U.S. Virgin Islands to survey storm damage and assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (F.E.MA.) response, is a big deal. The visit’s potential benefits are many — from recognition on a global level, to the president’s stamp of approval that the U.S. Virgin Islands are as important as the mainland states, relative to federal relief, among other positive effects.

“The president wanted me to let the people of the Virgin Islands know that as he speaks of Hurricane victims going forward, that he definitely will be including the U.S. Virgin Islands in his list of places that the federal government will be taking care of,” Mr. Mapp said.