President Trump signs executive order seeking to end cashless bail in NYS, elsewhere

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at ending cashless bail in New York State and other jurisdictions by threatening to withhold federal funds if states and cities do not change their policies.

The executive order comes as Trump looks to ramp up the role of the federal government in local law enforcement, including deploying more than 2,000 U.S. Army National Guard troops this month to patrol the nation’s Capitol, taking over the day-to-day operations of the local District of Columbia Police Department, and now asserting he will deploy the National Guard to Chicago to combat crime.

Trump’s executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to provide Trump with a list within 30-days of jurisdictions she believes "substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition of pretrial release from custody for crimes that pose a clear threat to public safety and order." The order also directs the White House Office of Management and Budget to identify funds, grants and contracts provided to the jurisdictions "that may be suspended or terminated."

The president also signed an executive order calling on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to establish "specialized units" of National Guard troops that could be rapidly deployed nationwide to maintain "public order," and he signed another order aimed at punishing those who burn the U.S. flag in protest despite a 1989 Supreme Court ruling deeming such acts of protest as free speech protected under the First Amendment.

Speaking at an Oval Office bill signing ceremony, Trump railed against cashless bail.

“‘No cash? Come back in a couple of months, we’ll give you a trial.’ You’ll never see the person again," Trump said.

Jen Goodman, a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathy Hochul, in an e-mail statement to Newsday said Trump “has no concept of how the law works in New York." 

"His reckless threat to withhold federal funds would only undercut law enforcement and make our communities less safe," Goodman said. "The fact is Gov. Hochul changed New York’s bail laws so violent offenders are held accountable ...The governor also gave judges more discretion to keep dangerous individuals behind bars, and she encourages them to use it.”

The executive order is the latest aimed at stripping federal funding from New York State over policies at odds with Trump’s agenda.

The administration has threatened to withhold federal transportation dollars from the Metropolitan Transit Authority citing concerns about public safety on the mass-transit system, and has threatened to kill the state’s congestion pricing plan after it was launched this year as a way of raising funds for mass transit updates. Congestion pricing remains in effect.

New York’s cashless bail law has been a hot-button issue since it was enacted in 2019 and implemented in January 2020. The law eliminated cash bail for a number of misdemeanor nonviolent offenses, but has since been amended three times to expand the list of offenses and to provide judges with more discretion over imposing bail.

Proponents of the cashless bail law contend cash bail creates a class-based justice system that allows wealthy individuals to be freed from jail as they await their trial, while a disproportionate amount of low-income individuals who cannot afford to post bail remain detained for weeks and months awaiting their next court appearance. Opponents of the law, including Trump, argue the system is flawed, allowing for repeat offenders to be released and potentially commit other crimes.

However, studies have found the proportion of criminal suspects released without bail who go on to commit crimes remains relatively small, and has slightly decreased, Newsday has reported.

A study by the University at Albany found "the effect of bail reform on crime rate increases is negligible." One of the studies by John Jay College, which sought to measure rearrest rates while adjusting for criminal charges, defendant's history and other factors, found the overall rearrest rate was 41.3% pre-reform and 40.7% post-reform.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the Trump administration on a number of other executive orders and policies, in a statement said it would continue to push back, and defended the state's bail reform laws.

"Today's [executive order] is also about reckless domination, with its threats to withhold federal funds, and coming amid Trump’s baseless threats to deploy federal troops to city streets," the NYCLU said in a statement.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly praised Trump's order, asserting the state's cashless bail law "has set free killers, drug dealers, gang members and a host of other violent criminals."

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who has been critical of New York’s bail reform law and has called for it to be amended to allow judges to consider the potential danger of releasing a defendant while considering bail, declined to comment on Trump’s executive order.

Newsday's Yancy Roy and Nicole Fuller contributed to this story.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.