Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas is now busing migrants to New York City

Two buses transporting migrants from Texas arrive at Union Station in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2022. Gov. Greg Abbott announced his plans to add New York City as an additional stop for dropping off migrants. (Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune)

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Gov. Greg Abbott announced Friday that Texas is now busing migrants from the Mexican border to New York City, the state’s latest confrontation with an East Coast city over the influx at the border.

Abbott’s office said the first bus to New York City would arrive Friday morning at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It comes months after Texas began offering migrants bus rides to Washington, D.C., where the mayor, Muriel Bowser, has said the city is now being overwhelmed.

The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, has also expressed alarm, leading Abbott to invite Bowser and Adams to tour the border Monday. Adams’ office dismissed the invitation.

“In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city,” Abbott said in a news release. “I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief.”

Adams' spokesperson, Fabien Levy, shot back on Twitter, saying Abbott's "continued use of human beings as political pawns is disgusting."

[Calling busing of migrants from Texas a “humanitarian crisis,” Washington mayor asks for help from National Guard]

The back and forth is steeped in political tensions as the Republican governor — running for reelection and considered a potential presidential candidate — tries to show that Democratic mayors are not as sympathetic to the plight of migrants as their party claims to be. Abbott’s critics have said he is using migrants as pawns in a cynical plot that does little to actually solve border problems.

Caught in the middle is President Joe Biden, who Abbott has long blamed for the border situation. Bowser has turned to the administration for help, asking last month for the Department of Defense to deploy the National Guard to her city. CNN reported Friday morning that the Pentagon has denied Bowser's request.

New York also still wants help from the federal government.

"NYC will continue to welcome asylum seekers w/ open arms, as we have always done, but we still need support from DC," Levy, the Adams spokesperson, said on Twitter.

Abbott sent a letter Monday to Adams and Bowser inviting them to the border region to “see firsthand the dire situation.” In rebuffing Abbott’s invitation, a spokesperson for Adams said Abbott should focus on helping “asylum seekers in Texas as we have been hard at work doing in New York City.”

Abbott has been unapologetic amid the backlash.

“They cannot handle the number of people coming in,” Abbott said Thursday during a speech in San Angelo, referring to Washington. “And all I have is bad news for them, because there are an increasing number of buses leaving every single day going to Washington, D.C. — and there may be some other locations on the horizon.”

The busing plot is not popular among all of Abbott's fellow Republicans. Kari Lake, the new Republican nominee for Arizona governor backed by former President Donald Trump, said Friday she was "not a fan" of busing migrants away from the border.

"It makes for a cute photo op," she said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, "but it just takes people who shouldn't be here and moves them further in."

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