The last straw for the mayor was apparently Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to send buses to New Jersey train stations connecting to New York City to thwart an executive order​.

In a stunning and unexpected move to stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from shipping busloads of asylum seekers to New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has filed a lawsuit against 17 charter bus companies used by the Lone Star State.

He wants the bus companies to reimburse the city for the hundreds of millions of dollars it’s cost to shelter them.

Just call it the Empire State strikes back, with a bold counter punch to Abbott.

“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the cost of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas, alone,” Adams said.

  • quindraco@lemm.ee
    950·
    10 months ago

    New York has a law making bus drivers responsible for the welfare of their riders post-ride? That sounds pretty insane, if true.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
        13·
        10 months ago

        Honestly I thought it was a trafficking lawsuit. I feel like it would be a stronger case and send the more appropriate message

      • AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        155·
        10 months ago

        That’s not what the article says.

        He wants the bus companies to reimburse the city for the hundreds of millions of dollars it’s cost to shelter them.
        …
        The suit seeks $708 million to compensate the city for the cost of shelter, food and health care.
        “These companies have violated state law by not paying the cost of caring for these migrants,” Adams said.
        … The suit charges the companies with “bad faith” conduct and violating New York social service law by dumping the asylum seekers in New York City without providing a means of support.

        edit:

        A note for the purpose of clarity, I was saying that the article does not contain information that supports this statement:

        Suing the companies for engaging in a contract that is legally dicey (potentially trafficking)

        • kick_out_the_jams@kbin.social
          161·
          10 months ago

          The mayor sued the bus companies who, since the spring of 2022, have been used by Abbott to ship asylum seekers to New York, with officials showing them maps, giving them bar-coded bracelets with their destinations clearly marked, and then checked by drivers to make sure they land in the city.

          Check the suit itself if you really want to confirm but it’s pretty clear that it’s against the companies.

    • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
      71·
      10 months ago

      I will agree with you to an extent, but that only stands if all parties are being reasonable (which they are not). It would be more ethical to sue the companies getting paid for the contracts to run the bussed, but I dont think that covers everything New York set out to do.

      First, they are betting that the bus companies wont go to bat for the drivers, this effectivly puts the risk of fines on both entities. Ideally this causes the companies to stop accepting the charters at risk of being sued by their own employees for telling them to do something illegal (in a different state). Also stops the drivers from accepting the charters as they likely wont be able to afford the fine, nor the legal fees, it creates too large of a risk for themselves.

      Second, this covers politically motivated individuals who want to “volunteer” or any other excuse as to why they are conducting the same actions.

      I think its pretty ham-fisted but they wouldent think it was a good idea if the entity it is directed at (Texas) was open to discussing actual solutions.

      • Magrath@lemmy.ca
        2·
        10 months ago

        Exactly. I have no idea if there is merit to the lawsuit but it’ll make charter bus companies think twice about accepting contracts to transport migrants across state borders if there is a chance they may be sued and have to deal with the legal cost of defending themselves.