WASHINGTON — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is condemning the actions of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after a second bus carrying migrants sent from Texas arrived over the weekend as the governor delivered on his promise to send migrants to the city.
“This is horrific, when you think about what the governor is doing,” Adams said at the Port Authority bus terminal as migrants were arriving on a bus from Texas, Politico reported.
While Adams said officials expected 40 people to be on the bus, only 14 were dropped off at the bus station Sunday, Politico reported. The other passengers likely got off at other stops along the three-day route.
Adams also said some migrants were forced onto the bus going to New York, or were lied to about the end destination, Politico reported. He added that Texas has not coordinated with the city, so his office is unaware when buses are leaving or the details about passengers.
New York City has long adopted a right to shelter mandate, which requires the city to provide shelter for homeless families in a timely manner. Adams has also pushed for federal funds or assistance to house and care for houseless migrants bused from Texas, which has put a strain on the city’s ability to follow the mandate.
Adams pointed to an influx in homeless asylum-seekers in July when the city failed to comply with the mandate requiring families presenting for shelter by 10 p.m. must be placed in conditional shelter by 4 a.m. Four families were placed in shelter hours after the deadline.
The head of the mayor’s immigrant affairs office, Manuel Castro, told CNN that because New York is a right-to-shelter city, anyone who needs shelter can get it. However, he said, the city has “exhausted” its availability of regular shelter space, and is leasing additional space at hotels to serve those in need.
“These are families, these are people,” Castro told CNN. “They have a right to be here as asylum-seekers and New York is here to welcome them. They frankly need a lot of support. They’ve traveled a long way to get here.”
Many of the migrants arrived “hungry and thirsty, with small children,” he said.
Abbott announced he was expanding this busing measure to New York City on Friday when the first bus of migrants arrived from Texas. The state has bused migrants from the border to Washington, D.C., since April.
“Because of President Biden’s continued refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies, the State of Texas has had to take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe,” Abbott said in a statement.
“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. 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.”
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Friday, Abbott said the state had bused 6,500 migrants from the border to Washington and “there are more buses on the way” to New York.
Abbott said in a statement there have been 290,700 migrant apprehensions and more than 18,000 criminal arrests since the beginning of Operation Lone Star in 2021.
“Greg Abbott used innocent people as political pawns to manufacture a crisis. New Yorkers are stepping up to fix it — that’s our city’s values,” Adams said in a tweet. He also called for greater assistance to handle the influx of migrants arriving in the city.
Abbott’s expansion to New York City coincided with the Pentagon’s decision to deny assistance to Washington to handle the increase of migrants sent by Texas.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser initially requested aid on July 28, calling the influx a “growing humanitarian crisis.” As Washington does not have statehood and cannot deploy National Guard on its own, she requested the federal government deploy National Guard members and provide a federal location for migrant housing and processing.
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