NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams rebuked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday after learning that the border state would resume busing asylum-seekers to New York and other major cities run by Black mayors.
“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,” the Democratic mayor said in a statement.
“Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt Black-run cities.”
The cities are New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Denver and Chicago.
Over the weekend, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a letter to Abbott saying her administration also learned the Republican governor would resume busing children and families to Illinois on Monday. Lightfoot, a Democrat who lost a recent reelection bid, called the move an “inhumane” and “dangerous” decision.
The movement of migrants from the Southern border has become more politically-charged since last year when Abbott sent two busloads of people to Vice President Kamala Harris' official residence and fellow Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis flew two planeloads of people to Martha's Vineyard to draw attention to an issue they say President Joe Biden has failed to manage.
Biden, in turn, has accused the Republican leaders of using the migrants as political props.
The asylum-seeker crisis has stretched New York City's social safety net to a breaking point, complicating already tense local and state budget negotiations and putting the mayor on a collision course with the White House even as he stumps for Biden’s reelection campaign.
More than 57,000 migrants, mostly hailing from Latin America, have arrived in the city since last spring, while Chicago has fielded more than 8,000 newcomers. City Hall projects it will cost New York more than $2.9 billion over the next year to provide the migrants with housing, food and other services.
Adams’ rhetoric about the situation has become increasingly heated — more closely mirroring Republican talking points — in recent weeks. During a roundtable in late April with other Black mayors, including Lightfoot, he said the city “is being destroyed.”
A spokesperson for Abbott said in a statement, "Mayor Adams, along with Mayor Bowser, Mayor Lightfoot, and Mayor Kenney, were proud to tout their self-declared sanctuary city status until Texas began busing migrants to New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Philadelphia to provide relief to our overrun and overwhelmed border communities."
The spokesperson added, "With millions of residents, New York is only dealing with a fraction of what our small border communities deal with on a day-to-day basis. The real crisis isn’t in New York City—it’s on our southern border, where President Biden’s open border policies have allowed record-high levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and weapons to surge into our state and country."
The crisis is expected to worsen later this month with the expiration of a Trump-era border policy known as Title 42.
