Texas Gov Is The Joker, Says NYC Official Amid NJ Migrant Bus Fracas

NEW YORK CITY — One Texan just wants to watch New York City burn.

Or so said a top spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after the Republican apparently tried to sidestep new restrictions on asylum seeker bus arrivals by instead sending migrants to nearby New Jersey communities.

Spokesperson Fabien Levy on Tuesday compared Abbott to the Joker in the 2008 film "The Dark Knight," and evoked a memorable line of dialogue from Michael Caine's Alfred character.

"He can't be reasoned with, he can't be negotiated with," Levy said of Abbott.

"He just wants to watch this country burn."

So, why is Levy so serious?

New York City has seen tens of thousands of asylum seekers arrive in the past year, in large part on buses from Texas under the direction of Abbott.

The migrant shipments have been the source of a long-standing feud between Abbott and Adams, who has accused the governor of using human beings as political pawns.

The feud and logistical reality of dealing with thousands of new arrivals a week prompted Adams last week to issue an executive order that limits when and how charter bus companies can drop off busloads of migrants.

Rather than comply with the order's required 32-hour notice and five-day-a-week schedule, buses from Texas instead started dropping off migrants in New Jersey communities.

At least two buses in Edison, New Jersey, were turned away over the New Year's holiday weekend.

Adams and city officials, during a Tuesday news conference, said they alerted New Jersey communities ahead of time about the bus rules.

The mayor encouraged nearby communities to issue similar executive orders, which he said could help ease the "chaos" inspired by the "bully" Abbott.

"If he's going to shift, we're going to shift," he said.

Some advocates, however, criticized Adams' executive order on buses as only creating further chaos.

Murad Awawdeh, executive director for the New York Immigration Coalition, said limiting bus arrivals throws migrants into potentially harmful situations.

"He should be reinforcing our city's values by welcoming new arrivals with dignity, especially when another political official is determined to foment mayhem," Awawdeh said in a statement.

"When we invest in humane solutions, we're exponentially investing in our future. But when Mayor Adams rips a page from Governor Abbott's playbook, we all lose."