$5M Migrant Spending In NJ Considered But Never Realized: Report

NEW JERSEY - Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration considered allocating $5 million in federal coronavirus relief funding to manage the influx of migrants coming to the Garden State last summer, according to documents published by POLITICO.

Though the plan was never executed, it’s unclear if a similar use of funding will be implemented in the future as migrants en route to New York City continue to be bused from Texas into New Jersey in a recent bid to sidestep New York City’s recent executive order capping arrivals.

“To date, no American Rescue Plan funds have been distributed for this purpose,” a Murphy spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO.

The June "rapid response plan" application from the NJ Department of Human Services, dubbed Migrant Arrival Operation, anticipated an increase of migrants in the state due to lifting of Title 42 restrictions in May, according to the documents retrieved via public records request. The Title 42 policy, which was enacted under the Trump administration and allowed asylum-seekers to be returned away at the border during the coronavirus pandemic, was rescinded under Biden in May 2023.

“Border arrivals are expected to increase and NJ is on the top list of states for migrant arrivals,” the application reads. “This plan has been put in place in the event NJ receives an influx of migrant arrivals by bus or other means.”

The funds would help coordinate "mass shelter activities" including lodging, food and crisis counseling, according to the application.

1,200 migrants on 26 buses were sent to New Jersey train stops in recent weeks, Murphy said at an unrelated Thursday event. The buses arrived at municipalities including Edison, Secaucus, Trenton and Fanwood.

It wasn't immediately clear why the administration didn't move forward with the funding request, though Murphy said last week that migrant arrivals in the state is “at the moment ... a manageable situation" and noted most asylum-seekers are not staying in New Jersey.

In Trenton, for example, 378 migrants arrived by bus to the Trenton Transit Center, with 21 of them remaining in the Trenton area, CBS News reported.

New Jersey's next door neighbor, New York City, has seen over 150,100 asylum seekers arrive since last spring, with Mayor Eric Adams blaming the busloads of migrants for draining the city’s budget.

At a September town hall meeting, Adams even said the cost of the crisis “will destroy” the city moments before demanding more federal aid, though other officials quickly fired back at the mayor for allegedly scapegoating migrants over already-existing budgetary issues.

In Edison, two migrant buses that made a stop on Dec. 30 were turned away due to a lack of “financial or social resources to house immigrants in hotels or provide other accommodations,” Edison Mayor Sam Joshi told Patch.

Joshi noted his administration had no idea of the migrant buses at the Edison train station and they got the information from other sources.

The migrants arrived on chartered buses and then made their way to New York City via NJ Transit, Patch previously reported. On the second day of arrivals, Edison police informed the migrants that Edison train station was not a "24-hour stop" and rerouted the charter.

“The migrants then left on the same bus,” Joshi said, adding he wasn't sure if they journeyed forward to New York or back to the U.S.-Mexico border, though he did instruct the police department to charter a bus to transport the migrants back to the border.

“I want to be very clear-if any bus, train or plane of illegal migrants come to Edison, I have instructed our law enforcement and emergency management departments to charter a bus to transport the illegal migrants right back to the southern Texas/Mexican border,” Joshi said in a Facebook statement.

New Jersey Transit police similarly waited for migrant arrivals in Secaucus to reroute them onto a New York-bound train, a source told the New York Post.

Read more: Activists Ask Edison Mayor To Apologize For Comments On Migrant Buses

But not all elected officials are calling for the same response.

During a recent council meeting, Edison Councilwoman Margot Harris said she was "disappointed" in the mayor’s rhetoric surrounding the migrant crisis before positing a subcommittee to discuss the evolving migrant situation.

"I think assumptions are being made about these people who are aspiring to escape their persecution," Harris added, "about the disease they may or may not be carrying, the weapons they may or may not be carrying.”

In a Jan. 4 letter to Murphy, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) called for a “compassionate response” to migrants being bused into the state, emphasizing cooperation between local and federal authorities to help with the ongoing issue.

“We know that Governor [Greg] Abbott will not stop his political stunt, and so we want to coordinate closely between all federal, state, and local partners to navigate this situation,” the letter states. “Our priority is to ensure humanitarian needs are taken care of and our state and local officials have the proper resources at their disposal as more migrants arrive.”

- With reporting by Sarah Salvadore.

Read more about the migrant crisis in New Jersey:

• Dozens Of Migrants Dropped In Trenton Stayed, Mayor Says
• Migrants Find Welcoming Arms In Church Parishes Across North Jersey
• Better US Border Security Requires A New Way Of Thinking: Menendez