Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that the first busload of migrants sent from the Lone Star state to New York City arrived on Friday morning.
Abbott said the migrants made it to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Friday morning but did not say how many people were on board on the bus. The arrival comes after Texas first began sending busloads of migrants to Washington, D.C., in April. Buses have transported more than 6,100 migrants to the district in just over three months.
“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,” he added, noting that New York City has right to housing laws that require the local government to provide “emergency shelter for every unhoused person.”
Adams asked President Biden to provide federal support to the city last month after he claimed Texas and Arizona were already sending migrants there. He said the city’s homeless shelters have been overloaded with migrants. However, Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey both said it was actually the federal government sending migrants to New York at the time.
Abbott suggested that Adams should visit the border to “see firsthand the dire situation.”
“Your recent interest in this historic and preventable crisis is a welcomed development – especially as the President and his Administration have shown no remorse for their actions nor desire to address the situation themselves,” the Texas governor said earlier this week. “As Governor, I invite you to visit our border region to see firsthand the fire situation that only grows more urgent with each passing day, and to meet with the local officials, who like yourselves, realize this matter deserves immediate federal action.”
Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser asked last month that the D.C. National Guard be activated indefinitely to help the district respond to an influx of illegal immigrants arriving by bus from both Texas and Arizona.
“With pledges from Texas and Arizona to continue these abhorrent operations indefinitely, the situation is dire, and we consider this a humanitarian crisis — one that could overwhelm our social support network without immediate and sustained federal intervention,” Bowser wrote.
The mayor argued the “pace of arriving buses and the volume of arrivals have reached tipping points.”
Earlier this month Bowser told CBS’s Face the Nation that D.C. officials have “called on the federal government to work across state lines to prevent people from really being tricked into getting on buses.”
“We think they’re largely asylum seekers who are going to final destinations that are not Washington, D.C.,” she said. “I worked with the White House to make sure that FEMA provided a grant to a local organization that is providing services to folks. I fear that they’re being tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final destinations are places all over the United States of America.”
Migrants sent from Texas to New York and D.C. have gone voluntarily. The migrants were released from federal custody after illegally crossing the border and given permission to stay in the U.S. with an order to appear in immigration court.