migrant bus
© Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty ImagesMigrant bus from Texas • Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York City • Aug. 25, 2022
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that the city is at a "breaking point" due to thousands of migrants who have been sent by bus from Texas in recent weeks. He said Wednesday:
"In the last few months, we have experienced an unprecedented surge of asylum seekers arriving from the southern border. In this new and unforeseen reality, where we expect thousands more to arrive every week going forward, the city's system is nearing its breaking point. As a result, the city's prior practices, which never contemplated the bussing of thousands of people into New York City, must be reassessed."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has been bussing migrants to New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago in an effort to offer border towns relief and raise awareness about the crisis.

Since early August, Texas has sent more than 2,200 migrants to New York City, 7,900 migrants to the nation's capital and about 300 migrants to Chicago.

"They all are concerned about a few dozen or a few hundred migrants coming to their town," Gov. Abbott told Fox News earlier this week. "We get that many per hour in almost every community across the border. So we're dealing with this all the time."


Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has asked twice for the National Guard to be activated to "help prevent a prolonged humanitarian crisis in our nation's capital resulting from the daily arrival of migrants," but the Pentagon has denied both requests.

Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that he is activating 75 National Guard troops to assist with the influx of migrants, accusing Gov. Abbott of "a heartless display of politics over people."

There have been more than two million migrant encounters at the southern border so far this fiscal year, a new record high, including more than 200,000 each of the past four months.

Texas launched Operation Lone Star last year, authorizing the National Guard to crack down on crime at the border. Since March 2021, more than 302,000 migrants have been apprehended through Operation Lone Star just in Texas, resulting in more than 19,700 criminal arrests and the seizure of 340 million lethal doses of fentanyl, according to Abbott.

Mayor Adams, meanwhile, said that
"No city official, advocate, or court ever could have contemplated the "reality" of the migrant crisis.

"Since May, this administration, on its own, has safely and efficiently provided shelter, health care, education, and a host of other services to more than 11,000 people predominantly from Central and South America who are seeking a better life.

"While some may want to use these extraordinary circumstances as an opportunity to play an unproductive game of gotcha, we remain focused on supporting each of these individuals and families who need our city's help."