New York City Mayor Eric Adams called on the federal government for assistance after buses of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began arriving at his doorstep over the weekend.
Texas has started busing illegal immigrants released at the border to major Democratic-leaning cities, most notably the Big Apple and Washington, D.C., as part of a larger effort to raise awareness about the worsening migrant crisis and lessen the burden on the state’s overwhelmed border communities. While no buses had been sent to New York until this weekend, Adams inaccurately claimed in late July that Texas and Arizona were busing migrants into his city, which is a sanctuary zone and is viewed by illegal immigrants as a safe place to reside because local police do not cooperate with federal immigration police.
ABBOTT BEGINS BUSING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO NYC AFTER MAYOR ADAMS GAFFE
“This is horrific when you think about what the governor is doing,” Adams, a Democrat, said of Abbott, a Republican, at a press conference Sunday at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bus terminal, where migrants were dropped off that morning.
“It is unimaginable what the governor of Texas has done when you think about this country, a country that has always been open to those who were fleeing persecution,” the mayor added. “We’ve always welcomed them. And this governor is not doing that in Texas. But we are going to set the right tone of being here for these families.”
“We need help, and we’re reaching out to the federal government to tell them that we need help,” he continued. “We’re going to get through this.”
Abbott, who has become a thorn in the Biden administration’s side over immigration, defended his actions last week by arguing that the several thousand people bused to Washington pales in comparison to what his communities, including Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and McAllen, have faced for the past 16 months. The governor launched Operation Lone Star a year ago, which sent 10,000 state National Guard soldiers and troopers to support an understaffed federal Border Patrol. To date, the state has spent $4 billion to fund border security efforts that Abbott has said the federal government ought to be handling.
Asked by the New York Post about Abbott’s arguments on the migrant crisis, Adams declined to offer a position, saying: “As the mayor of the city of New York, I don’t weigh into immigration issues, border issues — I have to provide services for families that are here.”
Adams alleged that the Texas governor is forcing the migrants onto the New York-bound buses, saying some were required to board by Texas authorities. Others were falsely told they would be taken to their desired destinations if they got on the New York bus.
“Some of the families are on the bus that wanted to go to other locations, and they were not allowed to do so. They were forced on the bus,” Adams told reporters. “Our goal is to immediately find out each family’s needs and give them the assistance they want.”
The Democratic mayor also accused the Republican governor and his office of not being transparent when asked for information on the buses.
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“We were led to believe about 40 people should have been on that bus. Only 14 got off,” Adams said after the migrants arrived, later adding: “And we are concerned about that because we don’t want people being dropped off [just] anywhere.”
“They’re not letting us know when the buses are leaving. They’re not letting us know what are the needs of the people on the bus. They are not giving us any information so we’re unable to really provide the service to people en route,” he added. “We would like to get that information.”
