New York City filed a lawsuit Thursday taking action against 17 bus companies that have transported over 33,600 illegal aliens to the city from Texas since 2022. The city is seeking to recoup all costs it has incurred providing emergency shelter and services to migrants transported by the charter bus companies, totaling approximately $708 million.
According to a city press release, “Texas Governor Greg Abbott has admitted to facilitating the transport” of the migrants to New York City “without having the companies transporting those migrants pay for the cost of continued care in violation of New York’s Social Services Law.” In addition to recouping the costs incurred to care for the illegal immigrants, the city is seeking monies moving forward to cover costs for “all those who are transported to New York City from Texas in the future as part of Governor Abbott’s plan.” The state of Texas is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
“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,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”
Reuters reported that the named 17 charter bus companies that “contracted with Texas to transport migrants … are small and do not have press relations offices where spokespersons could immediately be reached.”
The lawsuit claims the companies are in violation of a city social services law that requires any person who knowingly transports “a needy person” from out of state into New York to be obligated to cover their expenses.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul supported the lawsuit, stating, “Governor Abbott 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.” She added, “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. I’m proud to support the mayor’s lawsuit.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a statement on Thursday denouncing the lawsuit, claiming it is a violation of the Constitution:
This lawsuit is baseless and deserves to be sanctioned. It’s clear that Mayor Adams knows nothing about the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, or about the constitutional right to travel that has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Every migrant bused or flown to New York City did so voluntarily, after having been authorized by the Biden Administration to remain in the United States. As such, they have constitutional authority to travel across the country that Mayor Adams is interfering with. If the Mayor persists in this lawsuit, he may be held legally accountable for his violations.
The busing of illegal immigrants to not only New York City but other sanctuary cities as well, such as Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., are part of Governor Abbott’s Operation Lone Star program, which has helped Texas “fill the dangerous gaps created by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the border.” Close to 100,000 illegals have been transported out of Texas since April 2022.
Click here to learn what can and must be done to alleviate America’s illegal-immigrant invasion.
