New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Corporation Counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix announced a lawsuit against 17 charter bus and transportation companies.
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It seeks to recoup all costs New York City has incurred providing emergency shelter and services to migrants transported by the charter bus companies totaling at least approximately $708 million in the last 20 months.
Since the spring of 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has admitted to facilitating the transport of more than 33,600 migrants to New York City without having the companies transporting those migrants pay for the cost of continued care in violation of New York's Social Services Law.
The suit seeks to recoup the hundreds of millions of dollars incurred to care for all these individuals, costs moving forward for any of those migrants still in New York City's care, and costs for all those who are transported to New York City from Texas in the future as part of Governor Abbott's plan.
The 17 defendants named in today's lawsuit knowingly implemented Governor Abbott's publicly articulated plan without any regard for the individuals they were transporting or an effort to help manage this humanitarian crisis.
Rather, it has been "bad faith" conduct from which the bus and transportation companies are profiting to execute Texas's plan to sow chaos and shift the traditional cost of migration at the southern border to New York City and other cities across the country.
New York Social Services Law § 149, however, requires that "[a]ny person who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge…shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense."
That statute expressly authorizes the commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) to sue to recover those costs.
The lawsuit seeks repayment of all costs – including shelter, food, health care, and more totaling at least approximately $708 million for all of the more than 33,600 migrants already transported from Texas to New York City, as well as all costs for migrants who continue to be sent to New York City in the future.
Together with the New York City Department of Law, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison is representing the DSS commissioner in the lawsuit, led by firm chair Brad S. Karp, partner Michele Hirshman, and special counsel and former DSS Commissioner Steven Banks.
"New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone," said Mayor Adams. ■