He’s out of executive order.
Mayor Eric Adams insisted again Friday that he can’t just issue an executive order rolling back sanctuary city law, as the Trump administration amped up pressure with a new lawsuit targeting the pro-migrant policies.
“You can’t do that,” he told FOX5. “Any modification in the law must come through the City Council.”
Hizzoner’s attempted buck-passing came after the Department of Justice sued the Big Apple, along with Adams and the Council, Thursday asking a judge to strike down the city’s decades-old sanctuary status as unconstitutional.
Mayor Eric Adams continued to insist he can’t issue an executive order to roll back sanctuary city policies. Luiz Rampelotto/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
The lawsuit apparently stemmed from the July 19 shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection agent during a botched robbery by two illegal migrants — and blindsided both Adams and the Council, sources said.
The Council issued a defiant statement after the suit, while Adams has tried to straddle a line between supporting sanctuary protections for law-abiding immigrants and maintaining they should be rolled back for violent criminals.
Sanctuary policies limit cooperation between federal immigration authorities and local officials in most cases.
Adams did issue an executive order in April to reopen the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Rikers Island — fulfilling a request from President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan.
But the effort has been blocked by a judge.
Still, Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), one of seven city lawmakers who pushed Trump’s DOJ to step in against the city’s sanctuary laws, didn’t buy Adams’ claimed helplessness on issuing such an order when it comes to the policies.
“The Mayor is talking out of both sides of his mouth here, and trying to pawn this off when he knows that he could have taken executive action but didn’t,” Ariola said.
“We’ve seen Mayor Adams issue executive orders time and time again over the Council’s objections. This is nothing but another sad excuse to cover up his inaction when the city needed a decisive leader most.”
Adams has tried to issue several executive orders on immigration matters, with little success. Getty Images
City Hall spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak claimed confusion when asked if her boss would pursue a similar executive order strategy to perform an end run around the Council.
“What would the EO say?” she asked.
Adams has issued several other executive orders aiming to contravene the Council with mixed-to-no success.
An attempt by Adams to walk back right-to-shelter protections — which mandate the Big Apple must provide shelter to any homeless person who seeks it — via executive order during the migrant crisis led to a settlement that handed only a partial victory for the city.
And Adams’ attempt to block a Council-passed ban on solitary confinement led to an embarrassing smackdown from a judge.
“He cannot suspend the law because he disapproves of its impact,” Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Pearlman wrote about the mayor in his decision.
A City Council source said Adams’ hands are largely tied, because any executive order waiving sanctuary protections could be overridden by New York’s State Assembly or lead to another potentially losing lawsuit from the Council.
“He has very limited powers unless the governor issues some sort of COVID executive powers to ignore certain laws,” the source said.
President Trump said the lawsuit against New York City is a standard filing against sanctuary cities. James Breeden for New York Post
“Or he could just disregard the law like CityFHEPS,” the source added, referring to housing voucher law changes that the Council forced through and that Adams refused to enact.
The DOJ’s suit likely signals that Adams – who developed a cooperative relationship with Homan – is no longer in the Trump administration’s good graces, the source said.
Other sanctuary cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles were at the receiving end of federal lawsuits over their immigrant-protecting policies months ago, but New York City coasted free.
“They are trying to work with the guy. Homan was trying to spare him,” the source said of Adams.
“He’s showing he’s working with them, but he’s not going far enough.”
The off-duty CPB agent’s shooting changed all that, as seen during a fiery news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who lambasted Adams and wrongly blamed him for the city’s sanctuary policies on Monday.
“Just as Kristi Noem said, the gloves are now off,” the Council source said.
Trump, when asked outside the White House about the lawsuit against his former home of New York City Friday, gave a muted reply implying it was a standard filing taking aim at sanctuary cities.
“We want to bring safety to our cities, but that’s a pretty — that’s going to be a pretty routine filing with other cities too,” he said.
— Additional reporting by Steven Nelson