Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, criticised Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday for transporting refugees to Democratic-controlled areas in the country via bus, calling Abbott’s actions “unimaginable.”
Adams made the comments on Sunday when he received a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal transporting 14 asylum seekers from border communities in Texas. They came after 40 other people did on Friday.
In response to Biden’s efforts to repeal Title 42, a pandemic-related emergency policy that allows border agents to quickly expel migrants, Abbott started busing migrants from border towns to Democratic-run cities in April.
However, this is only a small portion of the asylum seekers who have been transported since then.
Adams greeted the family and then criticised Abbott for exploiting them as political pawns once they arrived in New York City.
We’ve always embraced that, Adams said, “when you think about our nation, a country that has always been open to individuals who are escaping persecution and other unbearable situations.”
“This governor is not acting in that manner in Texas, but we are going to convey the appropriate tone and message that we are here for these families.”
According to Adams, several of the families aboard the bus were forced to stay there against their will.
Adams stated, “This is awful when you consider what the governor, the governor of Texas, is doing, putting people on the bus with no guidance after months of journeying over the border.”
According to Abbott, Operation Lone Star has filled up the “dangerous holes created by the Biden Administration’s failure to protect the border,” according to a statement he released on Friday.
According to Abbott’s announcement, since Operation Lone Star began, there have been more than 290,700 migrant arrests, more than 18,000 criminal arrests, and more than 15,400 felony charges filed.
“Over 325.9 million fatal doses of fentanyl have been confiscated by DPS throughout the state as part of the campaign against it.
Since starting the busing operation in April, Texas has also transported over 6,500 migrants to the nation’s capital, and now to New York City, to help our overburdened border towns.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin turned down D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request on Friday for the National Guard to assist in receiving migrants transported by bus to Washington, D.C.
According to the Pentagon, granting the requested help would have a severe impact on the D.C. National Guard’s preparedness and badly affect the guard and its personnel, a U.S. military official said in a statement.