Buses of immigrants stopping at Secaucus Junction to work around new NYC order

Immigrants who arrived by bus at Secaucus Junction this weekend transferred to trains to New York City in an effort to work around a recent executive order signed by New York Mayor Eric Adams.

The order signed by Adams is meant to regulate migrant arrivals by bus. It requires bus operators to advise the commissioner of emergency management at least 32 hours before arriving and limits drop-off times to weekdays only between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and noon.

At least four buses transporting migrants to New York arrived at the train station at Secaucus Junction, a statement issued Sunday by Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli confirmed. Secaucus police and town officials were told about the buses by Hudson County officials, the statement said.

“It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination,” Gonnelli said in a statement.

“Perhaps the requirements Mayor Adams put in place are too stringent and are resulting in unexpected consequences as it seems the bus operators have figured out a loophole in the system in order to ensure the migrants reach their final destination, which is New York City," the statement said. "Based on reports from the State Police this is now happening at train stations throughout the state.”

Gonnelli noted that he was coordinating with Gov. Phil Murphy’s office, and that train tickets are being secured for the migrants, who have been making their way to their destinations.

Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for Murphy’s office, said the administration has “tracked the recent arrival of a handful buses of migrant families at various NJ Transit train stations.”

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“New Jersey is primarily being used as a transit point for these families — all or nearly all of them continued with their travels en route to their final destination of New York City,” Jones said, noting that the state is working with federal and local partners on the matter, including “our colleagues across the Hudson.”

According to posts on social media from the account associated with Jersey City, 10 buses from Texas and one from Louisiana have arrived at train stations throughout the state, including in Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison and Trenton. There were an estimated 397 migrants.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Migrant buses stopping at Secaucus Junction in NJ to get to NYC