In one of his first acts as mayor, Zohran Mamdani on Thursday revoked nine executive orders his predecessor, Eric Adams, issued after his federal corruption indictment, a move that undid actions pertaining to everything from antisemitism and immigration to New York City’s horse carriage industry.
In a press release, Mamdani’s team said the mayor rescinded the orders issued by Adams after his Sept. 26, 2024 indictment to ensure his administration has a “fresh start.”
Elaborating on the move at an evening press conference in Brooklyn just hours after his inauguration, Mamdani said he picked the indictment date as the cutoff because, he suggested, executive actions Adams took after that were tainted.
“We have to reckon with why so many New Yorkers have turned away from politics over the last few months, the last few years, the last few decades, and that was a date that marked a moment when many New Yorkers decided that politics held nothing for them,” the mayor said.
Adams’ indictment, which charged him with taking bribes and illegal campaign cash from Turkish government operatives in exchange for political favors, was ultimately dismissed by President Trump’s Justice Department this past spring as part of a controversial deal that many believe left Adams compromised. Adams has maintained he never did anything wrong.
Asked by the Daily News to elaborate on what specifically made Adams’ post-indictment orders problematic, Mamdani said many of them were “against the interests of working-class people and what they need from their mayor.”
Adams didn’t return a request for comment.
After the press conference, Mamdani’s team provided a list of the revoked orders.
Among them was an order Adams issued earlier this month that pushed back against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a movement that supports putting economic pressure on Israel’s government and Israeli companies in protest of the country’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The order prohibited senior city government officials from making any city contracting moves or engaging in any policy “that discriminates against the state of Israel, Israeli citizens based on their national origin, or individuals or entities based on their association with Israel.” The order threatened to subject city employees to disciplinary proceedings if they are found violating that restriction.
Yet another revoked order directed the city to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. Critics say that definition conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor and a persistent critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and historic treatment of Palestinians, has said he is committed to fighting antisemitism. He has vehemently denied that his pro-Palestine advocacy has fanned the flames of antisemitism, which is on the rise in New York.
In fact, Mamdani revealed at the press conference that he is retaining an executive order Adams issued in May that established the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
“That is an issue that we take seriously, and it’s part of the commitment that we’ve made to Jewish New Yorkers to not only protect them, but to celebrate and cherish them,” Mamdani said.
However, Mamdani’s office said he is making some amendments to the order that created the office. His office did not immediately provide the amendments.
Mamdani’s office also said he’s retaining — but making some unspecified amendments to — an order Adams issued directing the NYPD to restrict protests from taking place outside houses of worship. Adams issued that order after pro-Palestinian activists staged a rowdy protest outside a synagogue on the Upper East Side where a group promoting immigration to Israel, including occupied parts of the West Bank, was holding an event.
Other orders Mamdani revoked outright included one Adams issued in April that sought to let ICE agents operate on Rikers Island for the purposes of criminal investigations. That order, which stoked controversy as it appeared poised to help Trump’s immigration crackdown, was invalidated by a court on a technicality, though the action technically still was in effect as of this week.
Yet another now-rescinded Adams order sought by executive fiat to ban the city’s horse carriage industry. Mamdani has voiced support for banning the industry, but says he first wants to engage in dialogue with the union advocating for carriage drivers.
The new mayor also scrapped two orders Adams issued last month that created new offices at City Hall dedicated, respectively, to rat mitigation and cryptocurrency industry growth.
Adams, whose term as mayor came to an end at midnight Wednesday, often said as mayor that he “hates rats” and declared war on them. He has also been a major booster of crypto and said this week that his next professional move is likely to have something to do with the experimental currency form.
