New York City sues bus firms over migrant transfers

New York City on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing 17 bus companies of illegally transporting more than 33,000 migrants to the city from the state of Texas.

The transport firms are being sued for more than $700 million (€639 million), accusing them of illegally transporting tens of thousands of migrants from the southern border to New York under the guidance of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The bus firms are accused of taking part in a "bad faith" relocation measure that violates state restrictions on abandoning "needy persons" in New York. The suit seeks economical damages to cover the cost of caring for an estimated 33,000 migrants that have arrived in the United States' largest city on the buses since the spring of 2022.

New York had sought to curb the arrival of buses carrying migrants by limiting where they could drop passengers off, as well as introducing prior notification requirements.

But those requirements have been circumvented. Migration remains a thorny issue across the political divide ahead of a presidential election set to take place later this year.

Adams says Abbot's scheme is 'reckless'

Some buses carrying migrants have dropped off passengers in neighboring New Jersey state from where they make the last leg of their journey to New York by railway.

"(The city) announced a lawsuit against 17 charter bus and transportation companies that seeks to recoup all costs New York City has incurred providing emergency shelter and services to migrants transported by the charter bus companies, totaling at least approximately $708 million in the last 20 months," the city said in a statement.

"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," New York Mayor Eric Adams 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."

Abbot hits back over 'baseless' accusations

Abbot has responded by saying the allegations are "baseless." He also took a sideswipe at Adams, posting on X that the New York Mayor "knows nothing about the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, or about the constitutional right to travel."

In July of 2023, the US Justice Department sued the state of Texas over the installment of floating barriers in the Rio Grande River to stop migrants crossing from Mexico.

The Rio Grande is 1,896 miles (3,051 kilometers) long, running from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico.

Every day, hundreds of migrants attempt to cross the river to try to enter the US.

Republican Texas Governor Abbott has taken several steps in recent years to block migrants. Those included razor-wire fencing, arresting migrants and charging them with trespassing, and bussing asylum-seekers to other states led by the Democratic party.

jsi/kb (AP, AFP, Reuters)