Texas Gov. Greg Abbott resumes ‘inhumane’ busing of migrants to NYC: Mayor Adams

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has resumed a controversial initiative whereby his administration charters entire buses and uses them to transport newly-arrived asylum seekers to Democrat-run cities — including New York, Mayor Adams said Monday.

Though he didn’t explain exactly how he’d caught wind of it, Adams said his team learned over the weekend that Abbott, a Republican, planned to restart the busing program this week after a months-long pause. This time around, Abbott is sending migrants who have crossed into Texas from Mexico to New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C., Adams said.

“Not only is this behavior morally bankrupt and devoid of any concern for the well-being of asylum seekers, but it is also impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities run by Black mayors,” Adams said. “Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-run cities.”

Spokespeople for Abbott did not immediately return requests for comment.

It’s unclear how many migrants Abbott is expected to send to New York City as part of the revived bus program.

An Adams administration official said the mayor’s team found out that the first such bus bound for Port Authority left Texas on Monday.

Tens of thousands of mostly Latin American migrants have crossed into U.S. border states from Mexico as part of a wave of people fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries that started last spring.

Last summer, Abbott drew widespread ire when he started sending busloads of migrants to New York, Chicago and other cities without coordinating with local authorities in a deliberate campaign to criticize President Biden’s immigration policies and put pressure on Democratic jurisdictions. According to reports, some of the migrants were sent to New York City against their will.

Abbott’s chartering of entire buses for migrant transports stopped in January, the Adams administration official said Monday. It is not clear exactly what’s prompting the resumption of the program, though Title 42, a controversial Trump-era measure that has limited migrant entries at the southern border, is set to expire May 11.

The Adams administration official said the city doesn’t know for sure whether Abbott stopped sending migrants entirely in January, or whether it was only the wholesale chartering of buses that ended. The official noted that Abbott’s administration could still have kept buying individual tickets for migrants on buses, trains and planes without the city knowing, as the Texas government has refused to keep New York officials in the loop.

Abbott’s reboot of the large-scale bus initiative comes as the city’s migrant crisis continues to deepen.

As of Sunday, more than 36,800 migrants were sleeping in city shelters and emergency housing facilities, according to data provided by Adams’ office. Beyond Abbott’s buses, many migrants have come to New York on their own accord, often with help from aid organizations.

Adams has estimated that the city will spend some $1.4 billion by July on housing and providing services for the migrants.

He frequently warns of the dire consequences the crisis is having on the city’s fiscal health, though his administration is expected to get some sizable relief in the form of a $1 billion reimbursement baked into this year’s state budget.

Adams — who has faced criticism from fellow Democrats over his rhetoric around the migrant influx, including recently claiming New York City is being “destroyed” by it — reiterated in his Monday statement that Biden’s administration must provide more assistance.

“Despite Abbott’s inhumane actions, New York City will continue to do all it can to handle this influx, but this crisis is more than one city can handle,” he said. “With a vacuum of leadership from border states, we need the federal government to step in and provide us with support and to prevent this cruelty from continuing.”