The New York Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas Governor Greg Abbott to continue his controversial migrant busing program, rejecting a lawsuit from New York City and marking a significant legal win for the Texas governor.
The New York Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit filed by Mayor Eric Adams aimed at blocking Texas Governor Greg Abbott's migrant busing program. This decision allows Texas to continue transporting migrants from the Texas border region to New York City and other sanctuary cities.
In response to the ruling, Governor Abbott took to social media to affirm his commitment to continuing the busing program. This marks the second consecutive legal victory for Abbott.
The lawsuit, brought by Mayor Adams and the New York Civil Liberties Union, accused the bus companies contracted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management of violating New York’s Social Services Law. They argued that the companies were dropping off migrants in New York "without providing a means of support." The lawsuit also sought $700 million in compensation for the city’s costs related to shelter, food, and healthcare for the migrants. However, the New York Supreme Court denied the city’s request for an injunction.
Since August 2022, Texas has transported nearly 46,000 migrants to New York City, according to the Office of the Texas Governor.
The New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner had requested the court to enforce Section 149 of the New York Social Services Law against eight bus companies. This law stipulates that anyone knowingly bringing an out-of-state "needy person" into New York to make them a public charge is responsible for either removing them from the state or supporting them financially. However, New York Supreme Court Justice Mary V. Rosado ruled that a similar California law was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Edwards v. California. The ruling stated that the transportation of indigent persons between states falls under Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce.
Judge Rosado wrote, "The mass migration of people within the country, which the commissioner seeks to chill or prevent, is an issue reserved by the Constitution for Congress, lest the United States fall to a regime of Balkanization with each state setting forth a patchwork of inconsistent criteria for crossing state lines."
The case, titled *The Commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services v. Buckeye Coach LLC et al.*, was heard in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.
This decision follows another court victory for Governor Abbott. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently ruled in favor of Texas retaining the buoys installed in the Rio Grande, a measure aimed at deterring illegal crossings. Governor Abbott celebrated the ruling, stating, "Biden tried to remove them. I fought to keep them in the water. That is exactly where they will stay."
The Fifth Circuit's ruling overturned a lower court's preliminary injunction, stating that the lower court "clearly erred" in finding that the U.S. would likely prove the barrier was in a navigable stretch of the Rio Grande. This decision also reversed an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that had upheld the lower court’s decision.
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