New York City is seeking more than $700 million from Texas charter bus companies to cover the cost of housing and caring for migrants who have been transported to the city, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The lawsuit is intended to cover past shelter, food, and health care costs for migrants transported from Texas, as well as future costs of migrants already here and migrants who may be transported in the future, according to the mayor's office. The city said more than 33,600 migrants have already been transported to NYC from Texas.
The Adams administration has been trying to navigate ways to stem the tide of buses bringing migrants to the city and the mayor said he hopes the lawsuit serves as a warning for future transports.
"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 in a statement. "Today, we are taking legal action against 17 companies that have taken part in Texas Governor Abbott’s scheme to transport tens of thousands of migrants to New York City in an attempt to overwhelm our social services system."
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.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams
Gov. Abbott said Adams is "interfering" with the migrants' "constitutional authority" to travel.
"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," Abbott said in a statement.
In December, Adams announced an executive order requiring charter buses to only drop off migrants between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays, and only at a specific location -- West 41st Street by the Port Authority Bus Terminal -- or face fines. The order also required a notice period of 32 hours before arriving in the city.
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.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
In order to "thwart" the order and take advantage of a "loophole," charter buses were dropping off migrants in New Jersey cities before they boarded a train to New York, according to the mayor of Secaucus.
A spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the administration is working with federal and local partners, including New York City.
Migrant Crisis
"Our Administration has tracked the recent arrival of a handful buses of migrant families at various NJ TRANSIT train stations," said Tyler Jones, deputy press secretary for Murphy, in a statement. "New Jersey is primarily being used as a transit point for these families — all or nearly all of them continued with their travels en route to their final destination of New York City."
In the lawsuit, the city accuses the bus companies of acting in "bad faith" by profiting off bringing migrants to the city. The city said many of the companies being targeted in the lawsuit "are the same companies that are now evading compliance with the executive order by busing migrants to New Jersey train stations."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she supports NYC's lawsuit.
NBC New York has reached out to the bus companies named in the lawsuit for any comment.
