First bus of migrants from Texas arrives in New York City

The first bus of migrants sent from Texas by Governor Greg Abbott arrived in New York City on Friday morning.

The group was dropped off at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan after making the almost 2,000-mile trip from the border in footage captured by Fox News.

A group of charity workers and volunteers greeted the roughly 50 migrants, who were mostly men, before they ventured into the city.

New York City 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. 

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.

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.

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.