New York City sues 17 bus companies for transporting migrants from Texas
Mayor Adams’ administration filed a lawsuit Thursday charging that 17 charter bus companies owe New York City at least $708 million for transporting tens of thousands of migrants to the five boroughs from Texas as part of a controversial relocation program launched by the Lone Star State’s Republican governor.
The suit, submitted in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that the companies, most of which are Texas-based, violated New York’s Social Services Law by contracting with Gov. Greg Abbott’s administration to transport more than 33,600 migrants to the Big Apple with little or no coordination with city officials since 2022.
The state law holds that anyone who “knowingly” brings a person to New York “for the purpose of making him a public charge” is responsible to “support him at his own expense” — and the suit argues the bus operators should thereby be on the hook to reimburse the city for the $708 million it has so far spent on providing shelter, food, health care and other services for the thousands of migrants they transported to New York City.
“Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people,” Adams, a centrist Democrat, said in a video message from City Hall. “Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”
The bus operators named as defendants could not be immediately reached for comment. Gov. Abbott’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Abbott, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, started sending migrants to New York and other liberal cities at the outset of the asylum seeker crisis in 2022 in a bid to highlight what he considers Democrats’ overly lax immigration policies.
Adams and other Democrats have blasted Abbott for the move, saying he’s putting migrants’ lives at risk and using them as political pawns. Other states, including Democrat-run ones like Colorado, have also sent migrants to New York, but Adams says the Abbott operation is different because Texas refuses to give city officials any heads up on buses arriving.
Thursday’s lawsuit was filed on the Adams administration’s behalf by Steve Banks, a former commissioner of the city Department of Social Services.
Banks, who brought the suit pro bono in his capacity as a special counsel at the Paul, Weiss law firm, is also fighting the Adams administration in Manhattan Supreme Court over its attempt to suspend the city’s right-to-shelter mandate. In that case, Banks is helping the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless argue against the Adams administration’s claim that the city should be absolved of its right-to-shelter requirements amid the migrant crisis.
Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for Adams, said there’s no conflict in Banks representing the administration in one migrant crisis-related case and fighting it in another. “It’s two completely unrelated cases,” she said.
The legal action against the bus companies comes as Adams is fighting on multiple fronts to stop Abbott from continuing his migrant busing program.
Last week, the mayor issued an executive order that requires bus companies to give his administration at least 32 hours notice before they drop off migrants in the city.
The order also set a strict time window for when buses can drop off migrants — only between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays. Any bus companies that violate the order can be fined or have their vehicles impounded under the order.
Since Adams’ order, though, some bus companies have found a workaround by dropping off migrants in New Jersey, where they’re shepherded onto city-bound trains.
On Tuesday, Adams said he hopes New Jersey municipalities close to New York City follow his lead on setting strict rules around when bus companies can do migrant drop-offs.
“Everyone that has that train line that leads into the city, everyone in the municipalities around us — they should do the same (executive order),” he told reporters.
According to the latest data from City Hall, the Adams administration has spent around $3.5 billion on sheltering and providing services for the tens of thousands of mostly Latin American migrants who have arrived since spring 2022. Nearly 70,000 migrants remain in city shelters.
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