New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced new restrictions on charter buses from Texas bringing migrants to the “sanctuary” city, in an effort to curb the numbers of migrants that have hit the city since last year.
Adams announced an executive order requiring charter buses transporting migrants to provide 32 hours’ notice in advance of their arrival in New York City. The order also requires buses to arrive between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. between Monday and Friday. Such buses are also required to drop off at one particular spot.
If buses do not comply, it would result in a class B misdemeanor, with penalties including three months imprisonment and up to a $500 fine for individuals and $2,000 for corporations. Buses could also be impounded by the NYPD.
TEXAS MIGRANT FLIGHT HEADING TO NEW YORK CITY DIVERTED TO PHILADELPHIA
NYC mayor Eric Adams speaks at a town hall with a group of religious leaders behind him. (NYC Mayors Office)
“To be clear, this is not stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly way,” he said.
New York City has seen more than 160,000 migrants arrive in the last year which, while just a fraction of the millions that have hit the border in that period, has left the city overwhelmed and out of resources.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York City and other sanctuary jurisdictions last year. Abbott’s office has said it has sent around 27,000 migrants to New York City since then and has done so to relieve pressure on besieged border communities.
In a separate statement, Adams made it clear that his order was targeting buses sent by Abbott.
TEXAS BEGINS FLYING MIGRANTS TO SANCTUARY CITIES WITH FIRST FLIGHT TO CHICAGO
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott looks on during a news conference on March 15, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“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,” he said. “Just last week, 14 chartered buses with migrants arrived overnight from Texas, the highest recorded number in a single night, in addition to the hundreds of migrants who arrived that very same day via other modes of transportation.”
Gov. Abbott’s office, which recently began flying migrants to Chicago and New York City in addition to the buses, accused the Democratic mayor of hypocrisy – and pledged to continue the transportation of migrants.
“The hypocrisy of Mayor Adams is astounding. Mayor Adams had touted New York City’s self-declared sanctuary city status, then sent his own buses of migrants out to small towns in New York. Texas has only transported about 32,000 migrants to New York City while President Biden has been flying planeloads of migrants all around the country and oftentimes in the cover of night,” spokesperson Renae Eze said.
“With millions of residents, New York is only dealing with a fraction of what our small border communities deal with on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “Until President Biden steps up and does his job to secure the border, Texas will continue busing migrants to sanctuary cities to help our local partners respond to this Biden-made crisis.”
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Meanwhile, the border itself continues to see record numbers. Fox News reported this week that during the four-day Christmas weekend, there were more than 35,000 migrant encounters, and since Dec. 1, there have been over 250,000 migrant encounters at the southern border – meaning December could break the monthly record for encounters set in September (269,735).
Fox News’ Tamara Gitt and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
