NEW YORK – In a stunning and unexpected move to stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from shipping busloads of migrants to New York City, Mayor Eric Adams filed suit against 17 charter bus companies used by the Lone Star state.
He wants the bus companies to reimburse the city for the hundreds of millions of dollars it has cost to shelter them.
The lawsuit targets 17 companies and seeks at least $708 million the city has spent on providing shelter and services to the asylum seekers.
The city alleges Abbott’s policy of transporting more than 33,000 migrants to New York City since the spring of 2022 without having the companies that transport those asylum seekers pay for their continued care is a violation of New York’s Social Services Law.
The Adams administration says the law requires “[a]ny person who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge…shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense.”
“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Adams said. “Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”
“Governor Abott continues to use human beings as political pawns, and it’s about time that the companies facilitating his actions take responsibility for their role in this ongoing crisis,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “If they are getting paid to break the law by transporting people in need of public assistance into our state, they should be on the hook for the cost of sheltering those individuals — not just passing that expense along to hard-working New Yorkers.”
“New York’s social service law prohibits exactly what these bus companies are doing,” City Hall Chief Counsel Lisa Zornberg said. “They’re participating in a ‘bad faith’ plan orchestrated by the state of Texas to shift the costs of care for needy individuals to New Yorkers and overwhelm our social services system. The law is clear: By participating in this reckless scheme, these bus companies take on responsibility for those costs.”
Check back soon for more on this developing story.
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