Texas Governor Abbott Criticizes NYC Bus Lawsuit as ‘Without Merit’

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ lawsuit against Lone Star State charter bus companies earlier Thursday, calling it “baseless” and threatened legal counter measures.

Adams filed a lawsuit against 17 Texas bus companies for $708 million for their role in “Abbott’s scheme to transport tens of thousands of migrants to New York City,” accusing them of violating state law “for not paying the cost of caring for these migrants.”

Abbott went on the offensive.

“This lawsuit is baseless and deserves to be sanctioned,” Abbott said in a press release.

“It’s clear that Mayor Adams knows nothing about the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, or about the constitutional right to travel that has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Every migrant bused or flown to New York City did so voluntarily, after having been authorized by the Biden Administration to remain in the United States. As such, they have constitutional authority to travel across the country that Mayor Adams is interfering with,” Abbott wrote.

“If the Mayor persists in this lawsuit, he may be held legally accountable for his violations,” he concluded.  

Adams’ office said more than 33,600 migrants have been sent to New York from Texas since the spring of 2022. Abbott has sent more than 90,000 migrants to sanctuary cities across the country.

Adams last week issued an executive order aimed at restricting Abbott’s migrant busing, dubbed Operation Lone Star, mandating that the charter vehicles announce their arrival 32 hours in advance and only drop off migrants between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays.

“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,” Adams said in announcing his lawsuit earlier Thursday.

New York City is receiving nearly 4,000 migrants each week, according to Adams’ administration. Meanwhile, a CBP source told Newsmax on Monday that there were about 302,000 encounters at the southern border in December.