Abbott to New Yorkers: Biden at fault for the 15,000 migrants Texas has sent to their city

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who for months has been sparring with New York City Mayor Eric Adams from 1,760 miles away over the busing of migrants from the Rio Grande to the Big Apple, took the feud mayor's own backyard Wednesday and said the two elected leaders are actually at odds with a common adversary.

"Joe Biden really is responsible for the majority, the overwhelming majority, of the migrants here in New York City," Abbott said on cable's Fox & Friends in advance of a discussion at a conservative think tank in New York. "And if the people in New York City have a problem with all the migrants they are having to house, they need to blame Joe Biden.

"The problem here is not the governor of Texas," Abbott added. "The problem we have going on is the president of the United States."

The governor also said he plans to call lawmakers back into session in two weeks and will add additional immigration-related matters to the Legislature's to-do list. To date, lawmakers have allocated nearly $10 billion since 2021 to Abbott's border security initiative called Operation Lone Star.

Abbott, a three-term Republican, in April 2022 began offering state-paid bus trips for migrants granted at least temporary permission to remain in the United States to destinations in cities across the nation where Democrats are in charge. According to the latest figures from Abbott's office, nearly 41,500 migrants have agreed to board the buses, and New York City has been the destination for about 15,800 of them.

Adams, a Democrat, has said the influx of migrants threatens to overwhelm social services and "destroy" his city. And last week New York Gov. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced new efforts for migrants in her state who are eligible to apply for "Temporary Protected Status" that will allow them to seek work.

More: Buoys aren't going anywhere at least until October, so they remain an advantage to Abbott

“Work authorization is the way out of the migrant crisis," Hochul said in a news release.“Individuals who achieve legal work status will be able to exit the shelter system, find work opportunities and get their shot at the American Dream."

The announcement by New York's Democratic governor came after the White House gave the go-ahead for some qualifying migrants from Venezuela who entered the United States by July 31 to seek protected status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the decision was made because of "Venezuela’s increased instability and lack of safety due to the enduring humanitarian, security, political, and environmental conditions."

As Abbott was speaking in New York, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Wednesday that more than $12.2 million in grants will be made through the Shelter and Services Program, which helps offset cost accrued as a result of providing services to migrants.

In a news release, Homeland Security said the announcement is in addition to the more than $290 million allocated in June and $77 million the federal agency announced in August.

During his hourlong appearance before an audience assembled by the Manhattan Institute, Abbott said his bus-trip initiative has provided the rest of the nation just a small glimpse into what Texas must grapple with around the clock along the state's border with Mexico.

"What is going on in New York is calm and organized compared to the real chaos of what we see on the border — not every day, but every hour of every day," Abbott told the organization whose mission is to foster "entrepreneurship and fiscal responsibility" in U.S. cities.

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Abbott said that in each of the past two years, an estimated 2.4 million migrants have been apprehended crossing the border without legal authorization.

"Almost 5 million people apprehended coming across the border is unsustainable," Abbott said.

The governor's remarks in New York come as some Democrats are expressing frustration with the Biden administration on the immigration front. During a weekend appearance at a political festival in Austin sponsored by the Texas Tribune, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and his twin brother, former Mayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, lamented with what they see as the administration's lackluster approach bringing about immigration reform.

“The Biden administration basically doesn’t want to touch the issue," Julian Castro said at the event. "A lot of Democrats don’t want to touch the issue."

In remarks livestreamed Tuesday on Instagram, 2022 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke offered a similar observation.

"As a Democrat, as somebody who lives on the border, I've been so frustrated with my own party," said O'Rourke, who represented El Paso in Congress from 2013 until 2019. "We don't always get a clear signal from Democrats about what our party stands for and what our leaders are willing to do."

In his New York appearances, Abbott also addressed his controversial decision to install a 1,000-foot chain of buoys in the Rio Grande to deter border crossings near the immigration hotspot of Eagle Pass. The decision prompted a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice, which names Abbott and the state of Texas as defendants.

"If we win that lawsuit, which we should, we will probably have hundreds of miles of those buoys on the border," Abbott said, adding that Texas is also building barriers similar to the wall project initiated under then-President Donald Trump near the border with the permission of private property owners.

The chain of buoys presently deployed measures about one-fifth of a mile and cost about $1 million. That works out to a cost of about $5 million per mile. Abbott said the effort to add "hundreds of miles" would be worth the expense.

"Buoys cost one-tenth of the price of the border wall." Abbott said. "We will be able to have far more expansive barriers at one-tenth of the cost, and be more effective in deterring people from coming across the border."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly called Twitter, @JohnnieMo.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: In New York, Abbott says migrant busing plan should be blamed on Biden