Migrants Using Loopholes Dodge New York Efforts to Stop Influx of Buses From South

In a desperate effort to deal with the flood of asylum seekers being bused to New York by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the Big Apple’s Mayor Eric Adams came up with a set of new restrictions in late December aimed at regulating how and when these buses can enter the city.

Busloads of migrants heading for New York City have devised a strategy to sidestep an executive order recently signed by its mayor. During the New Year holiday weekend, some 13 buses from Texas and Louisiana are believed to have made a detour in New Jersey, stopping at railway stations there to drop off the arrivals.

US President Joe Biden’s migration crisis has been wearing out NY, with Eric Adams resorting to new restrictions on buses with migrants being deported there by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. After recently admitting that officials of the "sanctuary city” that was “sympathetic” to undocumented immigrants were now “past breaking point,” Adams announced an executive order in late December regulating how and when buses can enter the city.

"This is not stopping people from coming, but about ensuring the safety of migrants and making sure they can arrive in a coordinated and orderly way," said.

Screenshot of X post by Jersey City, US.

© Photo : JerseyCity/X

However, the strategy aimed at taking the migrant load off New York apparently has loopholes, as now buses carrying over 400 migrants from various locations in Texas and one in Louisiana “arrived at various transit stations throughout the state since Saturday,” as per a statement on a social media account for Jersey City.

“This is clearly going to be a statewide conversation so it is important that we wait for some guidance from the governor here on next steps,” the message read.

Screenshot of X post by Jersey City, US.

© Photo : JerseyCity/X

One more bus followed the same route, arriving in Jersey City’s train station on January 1, the city’s Mayor Steve Fulop revealed.

“They’re using New Jersey essentially as a bus stop to circumvent the limits on buses that can arrive in New York,” Fulop said.

At least four buses carrying migrants began arriving at the train station in Secaucus Junction on December 30, the mayor of Secaucus, Michael Gonnelli, told media. He cited local police as confirming that after the passengers were dropped off, they took trains to New York City.

“It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination,” Gonnelli said in a statement, adding that the “too stringent” order by Eric Adams has resulted in “unexpected consequences.”

Gonnelli slammed the tactic, and said that police have reported similar instances “at train stations throughout the state.”

Chicago, which has also been trying to regulate the arrival of buses with migrants in the city, has similarly faced an inundation of people being dropped off in the suburbs, local media reported..

Over the past two weeks, New York City recorded the arrival of around 7,200 migrants, Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy said. The official added that 14 buses had come in from Texas in one night. Earlier, New York City's Mayor was forced to limit the extent of the city's right to shelter obligations amid the influx of migrants straining the city's resources. Asylum seekers arriving for the first time get a 30-day period to find alternate housing outside a city-run facility, supported by "intensified casework services" to "discuss their options and plan their next steps," according to Adams' office.

The US southern border has become a crisis that has seen three consecutive record-breaking years of illegal crossings since Joe Biden took office and relaxed immigration policies. After the US president got rid of the federal COVID emergency Title 42 health order on May 11, which dated back to the Trump administration and allowed US Border Patrol to turn migrants away at the border, migrant numbers surged.

As border towns in states like Texas are overwhelmed by thousands of people illegally crossing in from Mexico because of Biden’s immigration policies, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been sending busloads of migrants to Democratic-run destinations. His actions have been echoed by authorities in Arizona and Florida.

According to Abbott, his state has bused over 35,000 migrants to Democratic strongholds, with "over 11,300 to D.C., Over 13,300 to NYC, Over 6,700 to Chicago, Over 2,600 to Philadelphia, Over 1,000 to Denver, Over 480 to L.A."

"Until the President and his Administration step up and fulfill their constitutional duty to secure the border, the State of Texas will continue busing migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like Denver to provide much-needed relief to our small border towns,” Abbott said in a statement earlier in the year.