Well, this ought to be interesting.
New York City filed a lawsuit on Thursday against 17 bus and transportation companies that have contracted with Texas to take thousands of migrants to the city as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s immigration policies.
The city is seeking $708 million in damages from the companies, which is how much the city has spent to shelter migrants, according to the lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court.
“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 Eric Adams. “Gov. Abbott’s continued use of migrants as political pawns is not only chaotic and inhumane but makes clear he puts politics over people. Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”
In the lawsuit, the city argues that the companies are violating a state law by transporting migrants to New York with the “evil intention of shifting the costs of the care to New York.
“As testament to the ‘bad faith’ and ‘evil intent’ of the Defendants, they are receiving more for their services than it would cost to buy a one-way ticket from Texas to New York City on a regularly-scheduled bus,” the lawsuit says. “According to public reporting based on data obtained under the Texas Public Information Act, the Defendants receive roughly $1,650 per person on chartered buses compared to $291 for a single one-way ticket.”
Since April 2022, Abbott has directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to send migrants to Democratic-led cities that the governor has described as sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants.
As of Dec. 29, Texas has bused more than 82,000 people from Texas border cities to Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles, according to the governor’s office. Since August 2022, Texas has bused 33,600 migrants to New York.
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The lawsuit names the following companies as defendants: Buckeye Coach, Carduan Tours, Classic Elegance Coaches, Coastal Crew Change Company, Ejecutivo Enterprises, El Paso United Charters, Garcia and Garcia Enterprises, JY Charter Bus, Lily’s Bus Lines, Mayo Tours, Norteno Express, Roadrunner Charters, Southwest Crew Change Company, Transportes Regiomontanos, VLP Charter, Windstar Lines and Wynne Transportation.
I know less about New York law than I know about Texas law and I don’t know that much about Texas law, but I do know this about New York law, and that’s that the Supreme Court in New York State is the equivalent of a district court in Texas. The top court in New York is called the Appellate Court. Why they do it this way, I don’t know. But they do, and I mention this to avoid any confused comments about where that suit was filed.
On the topic of New York law, the Chron story has a bit more about the law under which New York filed this suit.
The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court, accuses the 17 companies of violating a New York state law that penalizes anyone who “knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of the state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge.”
New York officials are seeking $708 million from the companies — the amount they say the city has spent to care for tens of thousands of migrants who have arrived from Texas. Abbott announced last week that the state had bused more than 33,600 migrants to New York City since August 2022.
[…]
The lawsuit was filed by the city’s Department of Social Services commissioner, Molly Wasow Park, as designated by the state’s “penalty for bringing a needy person into the state” law.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul backed the move, saying in a statement that if the companies “are getting paid to break the law by transporting people in need of public assistance into our state, they should be on the hook for the cost of sheltering those individuals — not just passing that expense along to hard-working New Yorkers.”
Okay then. Sounds a little sketchy to me, but again, I know very little about New York law, and it’s not like Texas is a model of good legislating. I will say I was amused at how much whining Abbott did in response to the filing. Almost as if he doesn’t like it when his team doesn’t get to pick the judge that gets to hear the case. Or maybe he’s upset about using lawsuits to discourage third party behavior, which of course is a thing we would never countenance here. If this makes it a little bit harder for Abbott to charter those buses, I for one will laugh my butt off. We’ll see how this goes. El Paso Matters, which notes that two of those bus companies are based in that city, has more.
Karma is a beech, isn’t it, Governor?
There needs to be a coordinated Federal response for handling these refugees – perhaps something along the lines of resettling the “boat people” after Vietnam cratered – but that’s not going to happen with the current zero sum political model. St. Ronnie of Santa Barbara decreed that government would be the problem, and his followers have made sure that came to pass.
It would be cheaper, and the states would be able to use the funds it would free up for silly things, like paying teachers and other public employees more of a living salary.
To clarify:
The “New York Supreme Court” is the equivalent of our state district courts in Texas. The “New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division” is the equivalent of our intermediate appellate courts (e.g., the First Court of Appeals in Houston). The “New York Court of Appeals” is the equivalent of our Texas Supreme Court.
There is no equivalent to our Court of Criminal Appeals. We’re the only state goofy enough to separate criminal appeals from civil appeals in this fashion.