Velasco left the SVU to accept an undercover assignment for the DEA targeting drug runs, leveraging his lengthy experiences with the cartel for the gig.

Velasco informed Benson about the undercover assignment in Season 25’s “Waiver of Consent.” After a successful run, the DEA reached out to Manhattan Chief of Detectives, Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni), to ask for Velasco to be reassigned to San Diego to continue working on the case. But before Velasco could feel at peace making that call, he touched base with Captain Benson and Sgt. Fin Tutuola (Ice T).

Detective Joe Velasco thanked Benson and Fin for his time with the SVU

Velasco was nervous about his meeting with Chief Tynan, especially after Benson honored his request to stay silent about the DEA assignment. Not wanting to rat out his own boss, Velasco visited Benson to let her know that Tynan had called him for a meeting. But Benson assured him he’d done everything by the book, and she could handle herself.

After arriving at Tynan’s office, Velasco discovered the DEA agents already there. Tynan encouraged Velasco to get comfortable, while he nervously explained he didn’t mean to go behind her back. Tynan smiled and told Velasco not to worry; she just wanted to get the DEA’s thoughts and see if they had similar goals.

“I have to be honest, this is one of the best parts of my job,” Tynan explained warmly. “Helping everyone achieve their mutual goals, so thank you. You’ve actually made my day.'”

Later, Velasco visited Benson to let her know how the meeting went, jumping straight to the point: the DEA wanted to recruit Velasco for more undercover work.

“But in San Diego,” Velasco added sadly, telling Benson that Chief Tynan thought it was a good idea. But Benson wanted to know how Velasco felt about it.

“I mean, I don’t like the way they went over our heads,” Velasco said, but confessed that the drug dealer they were targeting was a nefarious criminal. Benson told Velasco that someone clearly needed to take the perp down, but Velasco didn’t want to leave Benson’s squad.

“Velasco, I haven’t stayed with SVU out of loyalty,” Benson explained. “I would never expect anyone to do that. I’m here because I think that it’s the place that I can do the most good. You need to be where you can do the most good.”

Velasco then excitedly told Benson that he didn’t sleep for four nights due to the excitement of his last undercover assignment.

“Well, then you’d better get some rest, because I don’t think you’re going to get a whole lot of it on the West Coast,” Benson smiled.

Fin Tutuola has been on bed rest after his hospitalization, so Velasco paid his Sergeant a visit at home to bid farewell. After asking how Fin’s physical therapy was going, Velasco brought up an old conversation he had with Fin about how they both had dark pasts, so they became detectives to balance out the karmic scales.

“Well, I realized something, I realized that when I’m in it, when I’m doing the job, I don’t think about the scale anymore,” Velasco told Fin proudly. “I don’t think about myself at all.”

“You going somewhere?” Fin asked, confused.

“I just wanna say thank you for everything,” Velasco shrugged, getting a knowing look from Fin, who told him no thanks were needed.