Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, slammed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s program to bus migrants with an executive order on Wednesday.
According to an announcement made by Adams, the order limits the times that charter buses bringing migrants from Texas can run. During the week, they can only run from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The buses’ arrival times must also be given 32 hours in advance.
The order only applies to buses hired by the state of Texas. The mayor of the five towns often complains about these buses.
The news was shared at a meeting with the mayors of Chicago and Denver. These three people have been very loud in their criticism of Abbott, and Abbott himself has gone after them in Operation Lone Star. There have been a lot of migrant buses coming from these three towns since the program began in 2021.
Since the immigration problem began in New York City in 2022, more than 161,000 people have come to the city. The city is still taking care of 68,000 people.
Three cities—Denver, Chicago, and New York City—have joined together to make a “sanctuary city bloc” and ask the White House and federal agencies to help migrants more. In the past year, each city has had a public problem housing, feeding, and teaching tens of thousands of refugees.
Adams said at the announcement on Wednesday, “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 possible political pawns.” “We can’t let buses full of people who need our help show up at any time, day or night, without warning.”
On the same day the order was issued, around 1 a.m., five buses arrived in New York City carrying migrants who had started their trip on a chartered flight from El Paso. This caused officials to rush to meet the migrants.
Adams says that last week, a record 14 buses came from Texas in one night.
“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 as political pawns.”
— New York City Mayor, Eric Adams
Adams said that breaking his order would be a misdemeanor that could lead to fines or charter cars being taken away. He also said it was possible that his government would sue people who broke the law.
Adams isn’t the first mayor in the group to try to stop migrants from coming in on chartered buses. In November, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson came up with a similar order. So far, at least 96 tickets have been given to bus companies and at least one bus has been seized. But bus companies were able to get around the Chicago order by dropping off refugees in suburbs that were far away.
Abbot has been changing his plan because cities are fighting back against his busing scheme. This month, he started moving migrants on chartered planes to Chicago. So far, more than 120 migrants from the border between Texas and Mexico have been sent there.