“I’m proud to be here with my fellow mayors to call on the federal government to do their part with one voice and to tell Texas Governor Abbott to stop the games and use of migrants as potential political pawns.” — New York City Mayor, Eric Adams
With an executive order issued Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams lashed out at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing scheme.
According to Adams’ announcement, the injunction restricts when charter buses carrying migrants from Texas — to 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. on weekdays. The arrival of the buses must likewise be announced 32 hours in advance.
The ban only applies to buses contracted by the state of Texas, which are a frequent cause of outrage for the mayors of the five boroughs.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference with the mayors of Chicago and Denver. The three have been among Abbott’s most outspoken detractors, as well as targets of his own Operation Lone Star. Since the program’s inception in 2021, the three cities have been a primary supplier of migrant buses.
Since the city’s immigration issue began in 2022, more than 161,000 migrants have entered. The city is still responsible for 68,000 people.
Denver, Chicago, and NYC have established a sanctuary-city bloc, pressing the White House and federal agencies for additional migrant aid. Over the previous year, each city has openly struggled to house, feed, and educate tens of thousands of migrants.
“I’m proud to be here with my fellow mayors to call on the federal government to do their part with one voice and to tell Texas Governor Abbott to stop the games and use of migrants as potential political pawns,” Adams said in a statement released on Wednesday. “We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night.”
The order was issued on the same day that five busses landed in New York City at about 1 a.m., causing officials to rush as they met the migrants who had started their trek with a chartered aircraft from El Paso.
As per Adams, a record 14 busses arrived from Texas in a single night last week.
According to Adams, breaching his order is a misdemeanor punishable by fines or the impoundment of charter buses. He also hinted that his government would initiate lawsuits against violators.
Adams is not the coalition’s first mayor to try to limit the flow of migrants via chartered buses. In November, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a similar order, and he has already issued at least 96 tickets to bus firms and confiscated at least one bus. However, bus firms were able to get around the Chicago decree by dropping off migrants in far suburbs.
Abbot’s plan has evolved in response to city criticism of his busing proposal. This month, he began flying migrants into Chicago on hired planes, taking more than 120 people from the Texas-Mexico border.
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