New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, said on Friday, November 6, that favorable Democratic results in the United States midterm elections will have a "big" effect on Puerto Rico, after meeting with the Hispanic Federation at the SOMOS conference in San Juan, which he attended for the second consecutive year. At a press conference at the headquarters of the nonprofit El Puente in the working-class Río Piedras neighborhood, Mamdani said that "what here in Puerto Rico is described as a natural crisis is, in reality, a political crisis, the result of political decisions," because of Puerto Rico’s status as a US commonwealth, which many consider colonial.
what here in Puerto Rico is described as a natural crisis is, in reality, a political crisis, the result of political decisions
At the SOMOS event, which annually brings together Hispanic and New York politicians, Mamdani was accompanied by recently reelected New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who agreed that the election results open a new chapter for Puerto Rico even though Puerto Ricans could not vote in the contests. She said the past two years showed "an abandonment of that commitment" and called for resources for resilience, energy projects, construction, and restoring health care and nutrition programs, calling it "a new day for Puerto Rico."
Mamdani reiterated his commitment to protecting immigrant communities and criticized senators promoting Senate Bill 1062, which would create the "Educational Equity Law for Immigrant Students and Students with Undefined Immigration Status in Puerto Rico" and would let ICE enter a school with a judicial or administrative order. PNP senators and the Popular Democratic Party’s José Luis Dalmau voted in favor, independents, Joanne Rodríguez Veve and Eliezer Molina voted against, and the rest did not vote.
Mamdani said immigration enforcement measures do not contribute to public safety and "in fact, threaten it."