NYC Seeks $708M From Texas Bus Companies That Shipped Migrants: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — A behemoth $708 million lawsuit seeks to recoup New York City's costs of caring for tens of thousands of migrants from the Texas bus companies that shipped them to the city.

The civil complaint filed Thursday in Manhattan court accuses 17 charter bus companies of carrying out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to shift the burden of an asylum seeker influx at the U.S. border to New York City and other so-called "sanctuary cities."

Doing so violates clearly a New York law that bars bringing "needy" people into the state and putting them on the public dole, the lawsuit contends.

"These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants, and that's why we are suing to recoup approximately $700 million already spent to care for migrants sent here in the last two years by Texas," Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

"Governor Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today's lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way."

The complaint comes as Adams increasingly targets bus companies that transport asylum seekers into the city.

Adams recently signed an executive order that set restrictions on how and when bus companies can drop off migrants in the city has caused operators to instead leave asylum seekers in New Jersey communities — a growing source of controversy and friction in the Garden State.

The new lawsuit contends the Texas bus companies have shipped more than 33,600 migrants to New York City, and tens of thousands more to Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

The filing asks a judge to order the 17 bus companies to pay for those New York City migrants at $1,650 per person.

"The law is clear: By participating in this reckless scheme, these bus companies take on responsibility for those costs," said Lisa Zornberg, City Hall's chief counsel, in a statement.