(NewsNation) — Three more buses carrying migrants sent from Texas by Gov. Greg Abbott came to New York Thursday, sparking anger and calls for federal assistance from local officials.
This follows after a group of 50 migrants that were dropped off Friday at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, NewsNation local affiliate WPIX reported.
Now, New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he wants to send a bus of his own to Texas in retaliation for Abbott’s actions.
“I am deeply considering taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good old-fashioned door-knocking because for the good of America, we have to get him out of office,” Adams said.
Since May, around 4,000 asylum seekers have entered the city’s shelter system.
Adams asked for the federal government’s help to take care of these migrants, and even called for a special session with the city council Tuesday night.
“It’s more than just housing. Remember that,” he said. “Housing, education, food, translation services, healthcare. All of these issues, people are just looking at the beds. No. We’re looking at additional resources for people who are in need.”
One migrant on the buses who spoke to NewsNation said he left behind his children and hopes to find work soon.
“I’m very grateful. Very grateful to the United States government,” he said.
Another migrant named Johnny, from Venezuela, says he left in search of a better life. During his journey to the United States, he faced challenges such as police mistreatment.
“In Nicaragua, they would slap us,” he said. “They would treat us like we weren’t human beings.”
Abbott, along with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, in the spring announced a plan to send busloads of migrants to Washington, D.C. in response to President Joe Biden’s decision to lift a pandemic-era emergency health order that restricted migrant entry numbers by denying them a chance to seek asylum.
To date, about 7,000 migrants have been bussed from Texas and Arizona to D.C.
Abbott touted the group of Texas migrants’ arrival to New York as a way to show how the Biden Administration’s border policies have been “overwhelming Texas communities.”
“We’re scaling up on it! Because the number of people who are coming across the border continues to increase,” Abbott said.
New York City’s Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Manuel Castro told WPIX at the bus station, when the migrants arrived Friday, that what Abbott is doing is “continuing to play with the lives of people, is just pure cruel cowardice and disgusting.”
“These people didn’t know that they were coming to New York,” Castro said. “They were lied to and they are confused.”
Andrea Garbarini, who works with a volunteer group called Grannies Respond that met the first bus as it arrived, said two of the migrants needed medical attention.
“One of them was a very young patient that was diabetic and did not have treatment for quite a while because there was no refrigeration in the detention center,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.