Governor Greg Abbott of Texas decided to pressure sanctuary cities to end their policies, which many on the right argue encourage illegal immigration, by shipping tens of thousands of illegal immigrants to them. Among the sanctuary cities on his list is New York City, run by Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor Adams, who recently argued the thousands of migrants overstress the city’s resources, is now suing the bus companies involved in transporting the migrants.
The suit was filed against the 17 bus and transportation companies that were involved in transporting the more than 33,000 migrants, arguing that they should have to pay the hundreds of millions of dollars in continued care costs for the migrants in New York City.
Explaining his suit, Mayor Adams’s office said, “New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix today announced a lawsuit against 17 charter bus and transportation companies that seeks to recoup all costs New York City has incurred providing emergency shelter and services to migrants transported by the charter bus companies – totaling at least approximately $708 million in the last 20 months. Since the spring of 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has admitted to facilitating the transport of more than 33,600 migrants to New York City without having the companies transporting those migrants pay for the cost of continued care in violation of New York’s Social Services Law. Today’s suit seeks to recoup the hundreds of millions of dollars incurred to care for all these individuals, costs moving forward for any of those migrants still in New York City’s care, and costs for all those who are transported to New York City from Texas in the future as part of Governor Abbott’s plan.”
Continuing, the press release then quoted Mayor Adams as arguing that New York City cannot afford to bear the cost of the thousands of migrants, saying, “New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone. Today, we are taking legal action against 17 companies that have taken part in Texas Governor Abbott’s scheme to transport tens of thousands of migrants to New York City in an attempt to overwhelm our social services system.”
Continuing, Mayor Adams argued that the bus companies had broken state law by transporting the migrants there, claiming, “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.”
Mayor Adams then attacked Gov. Abbott’s policy, saying, “Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”
Also quoted was Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, who said, “Governor Abbott continues to use human beings as political pawns, and it’s about time that the companies facilitating his actions take responsibility for their role in this ongoing crisis. If they are getting paid to break the law by transporting people in need of public assistance into our state, they should be on the hook for the cost of sheltering those individuals – not just passing that expense along to hard-working New Yorkers. I’m proud to support the mayor’s lawsuit.”
Watch Mayor Adams speak about the suit here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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