Nydia Velazquez: Quotes and Statements

In December 2022, during House floor debate on the Puerto Rico Status Act, Velazquez characterized Puerto Rico's 124-year territorial status as a colonial arrangement incompatible with the founding principles of the American republic . She argued that Congress's plenary powers over the island echo the monarchical authority the founders rejected and stated that the current status was unsustainable and fundamentally unfair . She called on colleagues to support a process enabling Puerto Ricans to choose among non-territorial options, including statehood, independence, and free association .

Following Hurricane Maria's landfall in her hometown of Yabucoa in September 2017, Velazquez described the federal government's response as entirely inadequate and called the situation an evolving humanitarian crisis requiring the full resources of the federal government . On the one-year anniversary of the storm, she stated that the Trump administration's failure to pre-position assets had been widely acknowledged and that subsequent congressional oversight was insufficient . After President Trump characterized his administration's response as an unrecognized success, Velazquez called the remarks a moral affront to the nearly 3,000 Americans who died as a result of the hurricane . Following FEMA's 2018 after-action report, she stated the report confirmed what had already been evident: That the agency was unprepared, its response was hobbled by incompetence, and lives were lost as a result .

Velazquez has consistently framed small business policy as an equity issue. In 2017, she argued that entrepreneurship could serve as a path out of poverty and that legislation channeling SBA resources to Puerto Rico would help small firms meet their capital needs and grow . During debate on the Build Back Better Act in 2021, she characterized its $5 billion investment in SBA programs as a transformative long-term solution rather than a mere recovery measure . On the Trump administration's 2025 tariffs, she stated they amounted to a tax increase on working families and small businesses rather than an inflation-fighting measure .

In 2018, Velazquez stated that ICE's targeting of immigrant activists who had spoken out against administration policies constituted a disturbing pattern, whether driven by agency culture or policy directives . In 2019, she called ICE's pursuit of activist Ravi Ragbir cruel and immoral and raised First Amendment concerns about the agency's treatment of outspoken advocates . In 2025, she compared the prospect of ICE agents operating in masks to the hypothetical scenario of the NYPD operating without badges, arguing that anonymous enforcement creates fear and opens the door to abuse .

Velazquez has described the conditions in New York City Housing Authority developments as a man-made health crisis for working families, citing seniors living without heat and children suffering from asthma caused by building deterioration . In 2026, she stated that cooperative housing remains one of the best tools for ensuring affordability and neighborhood stability .

In her November 2025 retirement announcement, Velazquez stated that serving the people of New York City for more than three decades had been the honor of her life . She said the decision was not easy but that the time was right for a new generation of leaders . In a subsequent interview, she said that the energy and clear-eyed perspective of young voters in the 2025 mayoral election had helped convince her it was the right moment to pass the torch . In a 2026 interview with Roll Call, she reflected that she had always believed it was her responsibility to nurture the next generation of leaders and described the Atrevete voter registration drive as a transformative experience that shaped her approach to political empowerment .

Velazquez has frequently cited her father's insistence on education as formative. In a 2020 discussion at St. Francis College, she recalled that her father always asked whether she had completed her homework when he returned from work, and she credited him with helping her understand that education was the path to opportunity .