Mayor Eric Adams of New York moved to bolster his administration on Friday by naming replacements for the four deputy mayors who announced last month that they were stepping down to protest the mayor’s cooperative stance toward President Trump’s immigration enforcement.
Two of the appointees, Kaz Daughtry and Adolfo Carrión Jr., currently work in the mayor’s administration. Mr. Carrión, the commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, will be the deputy mayor for housing, economic development and work force.
Mr. Daughtry, a deputy police commissioner, will be the deputy mayor for public safety. His selection, which The New York Times reported last month but was officially announced on Friday, was met with some curiosity because of his combative outbursts on social media and his close relationship with the mayor.
The New York City Department of Investigation reviewed some of the questionable social media interactions of Mr. Daughtry and other top police officials, and released a report in January concluding that none of the exchanges “served the public.”
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said Mr. Adams was pleased with Mr. Daughtry’s work with technology and using drones as a part of emergency response and had no concerns about his temperament. Mr. Daughtry begins his job at the close of business Friday.
“As the mayor says, it’s not about the tweets,” Ms. Mamelak Altus said. “It’s about the streets.”
In a statement, Mr. Daughtry mentioned his 19-year history in the Police Department and his unwavering “commitment to safeguarding our streets.”
“In this role, I will prioritize cutting-edge technology and strong community partnerships to strengthen the city’s approach to public safety,” he said.
Mr. Daughtry will not oversee the Police Department nor the police commissioner, Jessica S. Tisch, according to City Hall and police officials. Ms. Tisch will continue directly reporting to Mr. Adams, said Delaney Kempner, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information.
Instead, Mr. Daughtry will “coordinate” with the department, Ms. Mamelak Altus said.
The two other deputy mayors announced Friday were Suzanne Miles-Gustave, who will be deputy mayor for health and human services, and Jeffrey D. Roth, as deputy mayor for operations. They will assume their new roles on March 14.
Mr. Carrión has a lengthy background in government, having served as a borough president for the Bronx, a member of the City Council, regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs.
Ms. Miles-Gustave, a lawyer, is the former acting commissioner and executive deputy commissioner at the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Mr. Roth is the former deputy commissioner at the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services and also served as deputy commissioner for policy and external affairs at the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated Mr. Roth to serve as the head of the taxi commission, but his nomination was withdrawn after he was criticized at a confirmation hearing for offering few details on how he would lead the agency, The New York Post reported at the time.
Mr. Roth is in the process of transferring his primary residence to a property he owns in Brooklyn from upstate New York and “the mayor has full faith in him,” said Ms. Mamelak Altus. Mr. Daughtry, who also lives outside the city, has long had a residency waiver, officials said.
Yet to be named is a new first deputy mayor, the No. 2 position in the city who is responsible for the day-to-day management of approximately 300,000 employees. City Hall officials said Friday that Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor and aide to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, is under consideration for the role.
Mr. Mastro withdrew his nomination to become corporation counsel in September after a bruising 11-hour hearing where City Council members questioned his fitness for office.
Mr. Mastro could not be reached for comment.
The appointments may help Mr. Adams steady the most tumultuous period in his tenure. The mayor, who is facing record-low poll numbers and a difficult path to re-election, has been accused of being engaged in a quid pro quo with the Justice Department, which has moved to dismiss Mr. Adams’s five-count federal indictment.
Mr. Adams was accused of offering to use his position to aid Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda in exchange for a dismissal of his case. The top federal prosecutor in Manhattan resigned rather than drop the charges against the mayor. And Gov. Kathy Hochul held meetings to discuss whether to force the mayor from office, before ultimately proposing to move to restrict his powers.
A spokesman for Ms. Hochul declined to comment on the new appointments.
In another sign of the fallout, several members of the Gender Equity Commission appointed by him resigned on Friday after not getting a response to their demand that the mayor lay out a plan to defend immigrants and transgender New Yorkers from what they saw as harmful Trump administration policies.
Maria Cramer contributed reporting.
