On Friday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed over 5,000 Texas asylum seekers have settled in the city after buses of migrants arrived last weekend under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order.
In an interview with CBS New York, Adams said he spoke with the Biden administration on providing necessary resources like shelter, food, water, and more to migrants in need.
“We’ve housed over close to 5,000 asylum seekers and migrants,” Adams said. “We’re going to have a smooth transition in our educational system, and the plan has already been laid out for years. Children who need education will have access to our school system.”
Adams also denounced Abbott’s busing order calling him an anti-American governor, and even said he was thinking about sending busloads of New Yorkers to Texas to door knock, canvass, and campaign against the incumbent governor.
Moreover, when asked about running possible campaign political advertisements against Abbott, Adams didn’t completely rule it out.
“Whatever we can do to remove a person that fails to coordinate during a crisis, a person that secretly sent those who were seeking help to New York City,” Adams said. “You have them ride 45 hours on a bus without proper food, water, or medical care; I don’t believe that he is the type of person that should be running a state as important as Texas.”
“Whatever I can do to assist having him removed is what I’m going to do,” he added.
According to NYC officials, the city has had to vacate 11 hotels to shelter the Texas migrants at the same time; the city is reeling from a housing crisis of its own.
In a Coalition for the Homeless report, NYC reported the highest number of unhoused residents since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
As of May 2022, 49,347 New Yorkers were reported unhoused, with many living in municipal city shelters, subway stations, and streets.
Nevertheless, Abbott said he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon and will send more migrants and asylum seekers to Washington D.C. and New York in the coming weeks.
Photo: Marc A. Hermann, Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York
Kennedy is a recent graduate of the University of St.Thomas in Houston where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Celt Independent. Kennedy brings her experience of writing about social justice issues to the Texas Signal where she serves as our Political Reporter. She does everything from covering crime beats, Texas politics, and community activism. Kennedy is a passionate reporter, avid reader, coffee enthusiast, and loves to travel.
