A Republican governor is escalating his efforts to cause chaos in New York City and other metropolitan areas led by Democrats over US immigration policy set by Congress.
For months, Texas’s Greg Abbott has orchestrated an effort to bus hundreds of newly-arrived migrants to areas including New York City, Chicago, Washington DC and other “liberal” areas of the country — an act of protest against inaction in Congress over immigration and border security. New York City has seen tens of thousands of asylum-seekers arrive over the past year thanks in part due to Texas’s busing campaign.
New York’s Eric Adams and other Democratic Party leaders have denounced the busing campaign as cruel and inhumane, while criticising the refusal of Texas officials to coordinate the arrivals of migrants with their New York counterparts. Broadly, officials in the states targeted by the busings say that the migrants are arriving with little if any warning and are being dropped off in some cases in the middle of the night in cold winter weather.
To combat the Texas governor’s efforts, the New York mayor issued an order requiring all charter buses whose operators know they are carrying migrants to drop off their passengers at the Port Authority during normal business hours. But rather than follow that order, Texas officials appear to be directing buses to smaller communities around the city — where those migrants are given train tickets bound for New York City.
Communities in both New York and New Jersey are being affected, according to multiple local media reports; some have already begun acting to issue their own similar orders banning surprise arrivals.
As of 5pm on Monday, nine buses of migrants from Texas and one from Louisiana had been reported by state officials in New Jersey. Most or all of those on board appeared to be bound for New York. In total, roughly 400 people arrived in the latest bus group.
"Our Administration has tracked the recent arrival of a handful of buses of migrant families at various NJ TRANSIT train stations," Gov Phil Murphy's spokesperson told Politico. "New Jersey is primarily being used as a transit point for these families — all or nearly all of them continued with their travels en route to their final destination of New York City. We are closely coordinating with our federal and local partners on this matter, including our colleagues across the Hudson."
Mr Adams, meanwhile, continues to call for federal aid while blasting both Congress and the Biden administration for not taking more urgent action to address the situation at the US-Mexico border. According to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), thousands of migrants are crossing the border outside of legal ports of entry every day; nearly a quarter million crossed through such illegal means in December alone.
The city, using $1.45b in local funding this year, has sought to provide new arrivals with shelter, legal resources and other aid to ensure that they find permanent housing and stability in their new homes. The use of those resources — as well as the decisions over where temporary housing should take place — have caused their own controversies.
“New York City has begun to see another surge of migrants arriving, and we expect this to intensify over the coming days as a result of Texas Governor Abbott’s cruel and inhumane politics,” said the mayor last week.
“We need federal and state help to resettle and support the remaining 68,000 migrants currently in New York City’s care and the thousands of individuals who continue to arrive every single week, and for Governor Abbott to finally stop the games and use of migrants as political pawns.”
