I wanted to write a quick note responding to the disgusting comments made at the Trump rally last night.

The over 300,000 Puerto Ricans who live in Massachusetts are essential to the fabric of our state. They are our business owners, health care workers, students, elected and community leaders, and veterans who bravely served our country. Here in Massachusetts, we are fittingly home to the nation’s first memorial dedicated to Puerto Rican veterans.

Secretary Jon Santiago is one of those veterans. Secretary Santiago was born in Puerto Rico and, in addition to revitalizing veterans services across the state, he is a proud major in the U.S. Army Reserve and an emergency room physician. Over the weekend, he and his wife Alexandra welcomed their second son into the world. On the same day that their son was born, the Donald Trump campaign called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’

This is the kind of hateful, divisive and disgusting language that Donald Trump and JD Vance foster and allow to permeate this country. 

I want all our children to grow up in a country that welcomes and celebrates the contributions of the Puerto Rican community. I want them to have a President who brings people together and focuses on what unites us all as Americans. I want them to see our leaders act with love for their country, with empathy for others, and with an unwavering commitment to protecting the freedoms of all. 

I thought Secretary Santiago said it best when he said — despite the vile rhetoric coming from the Trump campaign — that he hopes Julian will be ‘resilient like his mom, dad, and the millions of others who choose to fight for a better and more inclusive America.’ 

Let us all resolve to fight for that better, more inclusive America. That starts by rejecting Donald Trump and electing Kamala Harris as President of the United States.

-Maura Healey 

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