Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams hit back at Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott amid their recent clash over bussing migrants to major cities across the U.S.
Adams responded to the governor’s Wednesday comments on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus,” when Abbott compared himself to Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood stating, “go ahead Mayor, make my day.” Abbott’s remarks were in reaction to Adams’ threat to campaign for his opponent, Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“It’s unfortunate that he believes this is a Hollywood script, and it’s not,” Adams said Friday on CNN. “It is lives of human beings and to watch a governor lack coordination and show the humanitarian aspects of our country, placing people on a bus without adequate water, without adequate food, sending them to cities and in many cases they don’t understand the language. It’s just not who we are as Americans, so I don’t want to make his day. I want him to make the day of those that he is treating in this un-humanitarian fashion.”
He added the conditions of arriving migrants are “deplorable,” referring to the conditions on the buses traveling from Texas and Arizona to New York City. He then accused Abbott of being uncooperative in communicating with the city and state of New York. (RELATED: ‘Cute Photo Op’: Kari Lake Criticizes Republican Governors Bussing Illegal Migrants To Major Cities)
The Texas governor said he was not sending migrants directly to New York City until Adams’ condemnation. The mayor accused Abbott of “lying,” saying the migrants signed documents agreeing to be transported to New York and Washington, D.C.
Abbott’s spokesperson, Renae Eze, said Adams is a “hypocrite” and should call on President Joe Biden to fix his “reckless border policies” if he wants a solution to the migrant crisis in a statement to the Daily Caller.
“Mayor Adams is a hypocrite. He represents a self-declared sanctuary city, yet he’s complaining about a few hundred migrants being bused into his city. President Biden’s reckless open border policies have encouraged and enticed people from over 155 countries around the world to make the dangerous trek, subjecting them to deadly terrains, harsh weather conditions, and human trafficking and violence by the cartels paid to smuggle them in,” she began.
“If the mayor wants a solution to this humanitarian crisis, he should stop complaining and call on President Biden to take immediate action to secure the border—something the President continues failing to do. Texas continues stepping up to respond to this crisis by deploying Texas National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers and busing migrants to sanctuary cities Washington, D.C. and New York City to provide relief to our local partners,” she continued.
Abbott and Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey began bussing migrants to Washington D.C. in April in retaliation to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) original plan to revoke Title 42, a Trump-era COVID-19 policy responsible for the expulsion of over 1.7 million migrants. With an expected surge in migration, the governors intended to push the Biden administration to “more immediately address the needs” of the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Around 3,500 migrants have been bussed to the capital from Texas and Arizona since April, according to the Washingtonian. The first bus of 24 illegal immigrants sent by Abbott arrived in Washington D.C. on April 13. Fourteen were dropped off in the city the following day, then 30 on the third day.
A bus from Texas transported its first batch of migrants to New York City on Friday, Aug. 5, Abbott announced in a statement.
The governor told Fox News in a Wednesday interview that Texans cannot handle the influx of migrants entering their communities, so the state is bussing them to larger cities. He said the outrage among New York government officials is “rank hypocrisy,” given New York is a sanctuary city.
Democratic Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser made an Aug. 5 request for the National Guard to assist with increasing migrant arrivals, labeling it a humanitarian crisis as the city grapples with homelessness rates among illegal immigrants. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin denied her request.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre previously said the White House has been in constant communication with Adams’ and Bowser’s offices and accused the Republican governors bussing migrants of using them as a “political play.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has encountered over 3,000,000 migrants at the southern border since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, according to a CPB report.