Migrant busing

Mayor Adams announces executive order aimed at restricting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s migrant busing

The executive order mandates migrant charter buses must announce their arrival 32 hours in advance and can only drop off migrants between 8:30 a.m. and 12 p.m.

By JASON BEEFERMAN

Mayor Eric Adams issued an executive order Wednesday to restrict the flow of migrant charter buses sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to New York City.

Adams said the order mandates any buses carrying migrants arrive in the city only between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays. The buses’ arrival must also be announced 32 hours in advance, he said. The order specifically applies to buses contracted by the state of Texas — whose governor Adams routinely blames for sending asylum seekers into the five boroughs.

The announcement came during a joint briefing with the mayors of Chicago and Denver. The three cities have formed a coalition to press the White House and federal government for more migrant aid as each metropolis grapples with the economic and governmental burden of housing, feeding and educating tens of thousands of migrants.

Adams administration officials said Tuesday that the city is receiving nearly 4,000 migrants each week. In total, more than 161,000 migrants have entered New York City since the crisis began in 2022, and 68,000 remain in the city’s care.

“I’m proud to be here with my fellow mayors to call on the federal government to do their part with one voice and to tell Texas Governor Abbott to stop the games and use of migrants as potential as political pawns,” Adams said during the Wednesday announcement. “We cannot allow buses with people needing our help to arrive without warning at any hour of day and night.”

“This not only prevents us from providing assistance in an orderly way, it puts those who have already suffered so much in danger,” he added.

The executive order came the same day five buses arrived in New York City at around 1 a.m., forcing officials to scramble as they received the migrants who had begun their journey with a chartered flight from El Paso. Last week, a record 14 buses arrived from Texas in a single night, Adams said.

Adams said violating his order would result in a misdemeanor punishable by fines or the impounding of charter buses. He also raised the possibility his administration would file lawsuits against violators.

Adams is not the first mayor of the coalition to attempt to restrict the arrival of migrants via chartered buses. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson devised a similar order in November, and has already issued at least 96 citations to bus companies and impounded at least one bus. But bus companies were able to circumvent the Chicago order by dropping off migrants in far-flung suburbs.

It was unclear if Mayor Adams will try to proactively prevent the same from happening in New York.

While both Adams and Johnson have referred to Abbott’s transporting of migrants as “cruel,” New York City has also paid to transport asylum seekers to destinations outside the city. Between March and November, the city said it spent about $4.6 million to purchase more than 19,300 plane tickets for migrants seeking travel to other cities.

In both Texas and New York, local governments say the migrants are traveling willingly.

In response to a question about how Abbott’s actions differ from those of Adams, who is offering some migrants tickets out of the city, a spokesperson responded: “We are not chartering planes or busses and shipping migrants to other cities with little access to food, water and bathrooms on the journey. Our reticketing process is dedicated to getting migrants where they want to go.”