Mayor Adams says he ‘wishes’ he could use executive orders to skirt laws he disagrees with

Mayor Eric Adams.

Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday said he wishes he could use his executive authority to override laws he does not like — a power the city’s chief executive is not afforded.

Hizzoner — during an unrelated Wednesday morning news conference — made the remarks in response to a question on whether he would use executive orders (EO) to defy parts of the city’s sanctuary laws, which prevent it from cooperating with federal immigration authorities on most civil immigration matters.

Adams explained that while he does not have the power to override the city’s sanctuary protections, he wishes his executive orders could trump all kinds of laws that he does not agree with. Those include the 2019 changes to the state’s cash bail statutes and a reform that raised the age of criminal liability to 18 in New York — both of which were passed by the state legislature and signed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“I wish my EOs can override laws. I’d override a whole lot of laws,” Adams told reporters in the Bronx on July 22. “But executive orders can’t override laws. And that’s one of the misnomers that’s out there, that mayors have the ability to override existing laws. No, the City Council, they pass laws and we sign it into law. But we can’t use the power of our pen with executive orders to override the laws.”

Adams, who has cooperated with parts of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, has often lamented the city’s sanctuary laws limiting his administration’s ability to work with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement on certain criminal matters. He has also fumed about numerous other laws passed at the city and state level during his tenure in City Hall.

Under the laws, the city can only honor ICE transfer requests, known as detainers, if presented with a judicial warrant for someone convicted of one of roughly 170 serious violent crimes. The statutes also prevent ICE from operating within city jails — a provision Adams tried to overrule via executive order, but was indefinitely halted by a state judge in response to a City Council lawsuit.

On Tuesday, Adams said the city needs to “reexamine” its sanctuary laws in the wake of an off-duty US Customs and Border Patrol agent getting shot on Saturday. The two alleged perpetrators are undocumented immigrants, according to the NYPD and the US Department of Homeland Security.

“We need to examine parts of our laws that allow extremely dangerous people to go in and out of our criminal justice system,” Adams told reporters at a Tuesday press event. “As it currently states, we are not allowed to coordinate with federal authorities until after a person is convicted of a crime and after he has served his time. I think we need to examine that.”

Adams added that it is “unfortunate” that the City Council has been resistant to loosening its sanctuary laws.

The mayor’s comments also follow Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Czar Tom Homan pledging to surge ICE agents into the city in response to the shooting earlier this week. Noem and Homan, who have been Adams’ allies, blamed the incident squarely on the mayor.

“When I look at what Mayor Adams has done to New York City, it breaks my heart to see the families that have suffered because of his policies,” Noem said on Monday. “I know you guys have got a leadership election in this city that will happen soon. Boy, start looking at the candidates today and see which one is going to start making the city safer, because you’ve got a mayor today that could have done better.”

Their comments came as a rare Trump administration rebuke of the Democratic mayor, who has forged a strong relationship with the Republican president during his second term. The alliance seems to have benefited Adams, who had his federal corruption case dismissed by Trump’s Justice Department earlier this year.