Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) asked charter bus companies to send the state of New Jersey more information about the stream of immigrants near New York, requesting an advance notice before drop-off and passenger information.
Hundreds of immigrants from the border have been dropped off at New Jersey train stations in an effort to bypass new requirements in New York City for bus companies transporting immigrants that were commissioned by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX).
“As we continue to see more migrants arrive to our state at the hands of the Governor of Texas, who is reportedly funding the passengers’ transportation with taxpayer funds, notice to New Jersey officials in advance of these individuals’ anticipated arrival is critical to ensuring the health and safety of passengers once they arrive in New Jersey,” Murphy said in sending a letter to several companies on Monday.
After heavy pushback from New Jersey’s mayors and officials, Murphy is seeking similar restrictions for his state that are in place in New York City.
“Additionally, because we know the vast majority of these individuals are intending to travel to New York City, this information will be shared with our colleagues across the Hudson to ensure the passengers’ health and safety there,” Murphy said.
New York City filed a lawsuit last week against 17 bus companies for $708 million that have been charting immigrants from Texas. The lawsuit, filed by Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, cited a social service law that required anyone 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” to “convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense.”
Furthermore, the lawsuit accuses the businesses of violating New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s executive order put in place weeks ago in an effort to slow the surge of immigrants from the border into the city. Under Adams’s order, charter bus companies are required to provide New York City Hall with a 32-hour notice before dropping them off at specific locations. The executive order outlines designated drop-off times — between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays at a single loading zone.
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Abbott rebuked the lawsuit on Sunday, saying the suit should be against the Biden administration instead.
“The lawsuit is completely legally baseless, and the mayor is going to lose very badly for this very specific reason,” Abbott told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday. Abbott added that “everybody who is bused” or is expected to be sent to New York “is already authorized by the Biden administration to be within the United States legally.”