Two El Paso bus companies among those sued by New York City mayor for transporting migrants

Two El Paso bus companies are among 17 transportation businesses being sued by New York City Mayor Eric Adams for taking migrants to the city under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.

Classic Elegance Coaches and El Paso United Charters are named in the suit filed Thursday in the New York State Supreme Court. The lawsuit states that the defendants have earned millions of dollars in revenue from implementing Abbott’s plan by transporting migrants to New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and the District of Columbia.

A manager at El Paso United Charters who would only give his name as “Joe” said the company has not received any documents and therefore could not comment. A man who answered the phone at Classic Elegance said the company had no comment.

The suit seeks more than $700 million in damages, which the lawsuit states is what it has cost New York City to care for the more than 300,000 migrants who’ve been transported there from Texas.

In a statement, Abbott on Thursday called the lawsuit baseless, saying every migrant bused or flown to New York City “did so voluntarily” after having been authorized to remain in the United States.

“As such, they have constitutional authority to travel across the country that Mayor Adams is interfering with,” Abbot said in the statement, citing the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Abbott began busing migrants out of Texas in April 2022, with border cities like El Paso also paying for charter buses using federal funds.

The city of El Paso through the Office of Emergency Management has contracted with various charter bus companies for more than a year. But since the last large wave of migrants began arriving in September, the city has relied primarily on Operation Lone Star for busing services.

Since September, 466 charters transporting nearly 20,500 migrants have left El Paso to New York City, Chicago, Denver and most recently, Philadelphia. Of those, 166 went to New York City. Fewer than 50 of those charters were sponsored by the city, with the remainder being funded through the Texas Department of Emergency Management.

The lawsuit cites a social services law that requires anyone who knowingly brings a “needy person” from out of state to New York to make them a “public charge” is obligated to pay for their support, saying the companies transported the migrants “in bad faith” and with the “evil intention” of shifting the cost of their care to New York City.

The suit states that the transportation companies are charging about $1,650 per person under Operation Lone Star – far more than the $291 cost of a single one-way ticket on a regularly scheduled bus from Texas to New York City.

“These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants, and that’s why we are suing to recoup approximately $700 million already spent to care for migrants sent here in the last two years by Texas,” Adams said in a statement. “Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Two El Paso bus companies sued by New York City mayor