Former New York Police Department (NYPD) inspector Paul Mauro said Friday on Fox Business that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have a clearer path to cracking down on violent offenders than outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The New York City Council has repeatedly obstructed Adams on immigration enforcement, including suing him to stop his plan to let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operate on Rikers Island. Appearing on “The Evening Edit,” Mauro said the council’s resistance became so entrenched that only someone aligned with its politics might be able to push enforcement measures through.
“It’s going to take a Mamdani to do it. And here’s why. As Tom Homan alluded to, it was the city council that got in the way with Eric Adams,” Mauro told host Elizabeth MacDonald. “And it may just take somebody that is a Democratic socialist who is of like mind with the New York City Council to actually get this past them. Now, look, he can just order it done, but the city council is going to try to get in the way.”
The New York City Council rejected Adams’ veto of a bill banning solitary confinement and pushed new police reporting requirements into law in January 2024. Council members also moved to scale back parts of Adams’ mental-health response plan and curb his efforts to expand NYPD discretion.
Mauro said that political alignment could give Mamdani the one advantage Adams never had.
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“It may take Mamdani to get through that. And here’s a bad sign, Liz. I’m going to have to correct the mayor-elect on something. The National Guard is already in New York. We have Governor Hochul put 1,000 of them into the New York City subways already,” Mauro said.
Mauro added that National Guard troops have quietly supported New York’s transit system for decades without incident. (RELATED: Elizabeth Warren Suggests Trump Wants To Take Mamdani’s ‘Shine’ And ‘Rub’ It On Himself)
“She credits them with a 42% drop in crime. And they’ve been in the New York transportation hubs since 9-11. It’s 25 years without incident. I don’t know if anybody told him that. So they’re here already, and it works. These two are going to have to get on the same page. As I said, I’m heartened, but I’m managing my expectations,” Mauro said.
As crime spiked across New York City, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul decided in March 2024 that she would send 750 National Guard members and 250 state troopers to patrol the subway system and boost rider safety. Hochul later praised the New York National Guard for helping reduce crime in the subway system after deploying them to support NYPD and Metropolitan Transit Authority Police.
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