Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called New York City’s handling of its migrant influx “calm and organized,” compared with what was happening in his own state, the New York Times reports. For the last year, Abbott has bused migrants from Texas to New York City. “We have crime taking place in ways you don’t see in New York,” Abbott said. Abbott has been cast as a partisan villain by Mayor Eric Adams, who has blamed the governor for opening a floodgate to New York, calling the tactics “inhumane.” Still, the governor said on Wednesday that he was not the problem: “The lead importer of migrants to New York is not Texas,” Abbott said. “It’s Joe Biden.” Adams has characterized the migrant crisis as “unsustainable” and something that is “going to hit every one of our neighborhoods.” On Wednesday, Abbott used those words to attack the president’s response to the issue.
Adams has faulted the White House for not doing more to provide aid to the city and has said the president is “failing” New York City. Last week, when the president visited the city, the two did not meet. After Biden’s visit, his administration announced it would grant a special status to Venezuelan migrants to allow them to legally apply for jobs. Biden and Abbott are currently in court challenging Texas’s controversial buoy system. The number of migrants coming to New York has continued to surge. About half of those who have come to the city are staying in the homeless shelter system, which the Adams administration has said has long passed its breaking point. The city said migrants who were asked to move out could reapply for shelter, but it has also offered tickets on planes or buses to anywhere else they wanted to go.
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