(CNN) –– New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that the city has filed a lawsuit against 17 bus companies that provided transportation for immigrants from Texas to New York. The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court, seeks $708 million in damages for care provided to at least 33,600 asylum seekers who have arrived in the city since 2022.
Adams' latest legal action to block the influx of asylum seekers to New York seeks to address the financial burden placed on the city as a result of the growing immigration crisis.
The RequestThe lawsuit, filed by New York City Social Services Commissioner Molly Vaso Park, targets 17 charter bus companies for allegedly acting in “bad faith” by “intentionally transporting people to New York to incur the cost of care” for immigrants to the state.
According to the lawsuit, from April 2022 to December 29, 2023, the bus companies carried people knowing they “could receive shelter and emergency services in New York City, as they in fact did.”
required Appointment Section 149 of the New York Social Services Law states that “whoever knowingly brings or brings into this state a needy person from out of state for the public prosecution of him or her” shall be liable. “Remove that person from the state or maintain it at his own expense.”
Adams said in a statement Thursday, “These companies violated state law by not paying for the cost of caring for these immigrants, which is why we're suing to recover nearly $700 million already spent to care for the immigrants sent here.” Two years for Texas.
The lawsuit claims the bus companies “earned millions of dollars from Texas” for helping implement Gov. Greg Abbott's 2022 plan.
Texas has admitted to busing more than 33,600 immigrants to New York City since August 2022. Press release December 2023.
In a statement sent to CNN this Thursday, Abbott said: “This lawsuit is baseless and deserves to be dismissed. It is clear that Mayor Adams knows nothing about the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution or the constitutional right to travel as authorized by the US Supreme Court.”
He later added, “Every immigrant who was bused or flown into New York City after being authorized by the Biden administration to stay in the United States did so voluntarily. Therefore, they have the constitutional authority to travel across the country where Mayor Adams intervenes.” He can be held legally responsible.”
CNN contacted the offices of all 17 bus companies for a response to the lawsuit.
