Bus company suspending migrant drop-offs to New York City after lawsuit
Mayor Eric Adams helps distribute donated food and clothing to families of asylum seekers housed in the city at public school 20 in New York on February 11, 2023. This week, one of 17 charter bus companies shuttling foreign migrants to the New York City area on behalf of Texas has agreed to temporarily suspend the practice in response to a city lawsuit seeking to recoup costs of migrant care. Credit: Sipa USA via AP/Photographer Lev Radin
One of 17 charter bus companies shuttling foreign migrants to the New York City area on behalf of Texas has agreed to temporarily suspend the practice in response to a city lawsuit seeking to recoup costs of migrant care.
The company, Roadrunner Charter Inc., signed a stipulation that it “will refrain forthwith from transporting individuals known as migrants from Texas to New York City and/or from Texas to the vicinity of New York City, including but not limited to New Jersey, who are then provided with further transportation to New York City,” according to a court filing Wednesday.
The stipulation is contained in litigation filed in January by Mayor Eric Adams’ lawyers, who sued the 17 companies for $708 million, seeking to cover the room and board costs for the migrants Texas has sent to the city in protest of what the state's governor, Greg Abbott, sees as President Joe Biden's lax border policies. Newsday reported in June that most of the migrants are unlikely to file for asylum and those who do are unlikely to get it.
A request for an injunction to stop the busing by the other 16 companies is pending, according to a letter filed Wednesday by attorneys for the city.
The suit cites New York social services law requiring that someone “who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge … shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense.”
The likelihood of the city’s success is far from a slam dunk. Critics have said the argument violates the Constitution’s provisions related to interstate travel rights.
A message left with Roadrunner wasn’t immediately returned, and the phone line for the company’s lawyers in Manhattan rang unanswered. Adams’ press office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Abbott’s office couldn’t be reached.
New York City’s lawsuit came days after Adams signed an order restricting bus drop-offs of migrants to certain morning weekday hours and requiring at least 32 hours advance notice. In response, some of the companies began dropping passengers off in New Jersey, with tickets onward into New York.
In a news release last week, Abbott's office said more than 105,000 migrants had been transported to sanctuary cities like New York under what Abbott has dubbed “Operation Lone Star.” The number sent to New York since August 2022 is more than 39,600. Most of the rest — more than 180,000 — have come to the city via all means since spring 2022.
Adams has said the city expects to spend about $10 billion on the migrant crisis by the upcoming fiscal year.
Under New York City’s unique-in-the-nation and decades-old right to shelter, anyone in need must be provided room and board. In a separate settlement last Friday, the city and homelessness advocates agreed to restrict shelter stays by adult migrants without children.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
