The group was dropped off at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan after making the almost 2,000-mile trip from the border that lasted days.
A group of charity workers and volunteers greeted the roughly 50 migrants, who were mostly men, before they ventured into the city for hotels or shelters.
One of the arrivals Jose Rodriguez, 38, told DailyMail.com he chose New York because it has the 'best opportunities' of the options he was given when he crossed the border.
© Probe-Media for DailMail.comBertilio Rosale (left) and Jose Rodriguez (right) arrive at New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Bertilio Rosale, 54, also told DailyMail.com on arrival: 'I want to see the Statue of Liberty and the rest of the city. There are more job opportunities here, I will do anything I can. The bus here was good, we have all come from all over.'
The first footage of the bus arriving in New York at 6.30am Friday was captured by Fox News.
The Big Apple now joins Washington D.C. as a drop-off location for migrants who have recently crossed from Central America, have been processed and are awaiting their immigration court dates.
The Biden administration has accused Republican states of using migrants as a 'political ploy' and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser last week said the buses are causing a 'humanitarian crisis' in the nation's capital.
She called in the National Guard to assist with the more than 5,000 migrants who have been sent to D.C.
'Because of President Biden's continued refusal to acknowledge the crisis caused by his open border policies, the State of Texas has had to take unprecedented action to keep our communities safe,' said Governor Abbott.
'In addition to Washington, D.C., New York City is the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive the abundance of city services and housing that Mayor Eric Adams has boasted about within the sanctuary city.
'I hope he follows through on his promise of welcoming all migrants with open arms so that our overrun and overwhelmed border towns can find relief.'
Abbott also invited Adams and Bowser to visit the border and see the crisis first hand, but Adams declined.
A day earlier Abbott spoke at a conservative conference in Dallas describing how he came up with the idea after speaking to leaders in Uvalde and Del Rio who said they couldn't cope with the number of arrivals.
'And they were talking about getting the illegal immigrants that border patrol had dropped off into their communities that they were incapable of dealing with, and them actually busing them to San Antonio,' he told the Conservative Political Action Conference.
'I said don't do that. I have a better idea.
'We're gonna bust him all the way to Washington D.C.
'We deal with that number every single day, I got one thing to tell you and to tell them there are more buses on the way as we gather at this conference today.'
The audience responded with whoops and cheers, before Abbott plugged a crowd-funding website that helps pay for the buses.
Last Monday, Adams declared a city-wide emergency and called on the federal government to step in as a major influx of migrants strains New York City's shelter system.
Roughly 4,000 asylum-seekers have come to NYC since May, Adams' office stated.
'New York is a city of immigrants, and we will always welcome newcomers with open arms. Over the past two months, we have seen a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in our city's shelter system,' Adams said in a statement.
He had been calling the Biden administration for help since at least last month.
Many of the group arriving today had been told less than 24 hours before that they were being moved, with many losing any form of identification when crossing the river.
Clutching bags given to them by charities, the groups were spilt off with the men reportedly sent to men's only shelters across the city.
Adams pledged in the Monday statement that he will 'continue to work with federal and state partners to procure additional financial resources immediately' to assist with the surge.
During a July 21 press conference on the matter, Adams slammed Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey as 'heartless' over their bussing orders.
Comment: What seems heartless is having an open border policy but having limited resources to help the migrants you're allowing in, not to mention the effects of the influx of migrants on the border towns.
New York's The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless also attacked Abbott's move on Friday as a 'cynical' stunt.
'Governor Abbott is shamelessly exploiting these migrants - human beings who have endured immense suffering in their home countries and on the journey to the United States, seeking safe haven and a better life - to serve some myopic political purpose,' the organization said in a statement.
'Regardless of who these people are, where they are from, or for what cynical reason they are being sent here, New York is a sanctuary and right to shelter city, and the City must ensure that beds and critical services are immediately available to meet any demand.
'As representatives of homeless New Yorkers and the legal team who secured New York's historic right to shelter law, we will continue to monitor this development, including onsite at the City's shelter intake centers for both individuals and for families. We call on City Hall to immediately provide this Administration's plan for addressing the needs of all migrants arriving in New York City and requiring our help.'
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on Fox News on Friday morning to react to the arrival in New York City and said: 'We have lost operational control of the border'.
He added that it was a 'formula for disaster' and linked the crisis to the reemergence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan following the CIA drone strike that killed leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul on Saturday.
In June, 240,991 migrants were caught crossing the border, including six who were on a terror watch list.
It was a 14 per cent decline from May, but the surge in crossings over the last year has broken records.
Biden is still trying to end Title 42, a Trump-era COVID policy that saw migrants deported straight back to Mexico, but a judge has ordered the president to continue enforcing it.
Twenty-six percent of all crossers in June had previously attempted to cross the border within the last year, which is up from the usual 15 percent between 2014 and 2019, CBP said.
The largest group to come through was single adults, making up 68 percent of the crossing, with 140,197 people.
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