New York City filed a lawsuit against seventeen bus companies on Thursday. They allegedly violated New York State law by transporting more than 33,000 Texas immigrants to the city.
The large-scale bus movements are part of a campaign by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to expel people from his state who have entered the United States illegally.
Abbott is sending about 80,000 immigrants on free bus rides to Democratic cities in 2023, a news agency reported. AP. Texas has signed leasing agreements with various bus companies to this end.
New York is demanding $708 million (about 647 million euros) from the bus operators. New York is said to have incurred these costs over the past two years to provide housing and other services to immigrants in Texas.
Bus companies are being sued under 19th century law. It stipulates that anyone transporting an “indigent person” to New York who is “likely to require public assistance” must cover the costs incurred by the state.
Planes instead of buses
At the end of December last year, Abbott sent about 120 immigrants on planes to Chicago. He did so in response to stricter rules for bus companies in that state.
They may face harsher penalties if they fail to drop off migrants at a specified location or fail to complete the correct paperwork.
The White House criticized the trip and accused Abbott of using migrants for political purposes. “Once again Governor Abbott is showing how little respect he has for people,” a government spokesperson said at the time.
Abbott is not the only Republican sending immigrants to democratic countries. For example, Florida sent two planes to California in the spring of 2023. And in 2022, Republican Senator and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has already sent migrants by plane to the island of Martha's Vineyard in the Democratic state of Massachusetts.
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