Bus company sued by New York City will halt transporting migrants, for now

NEW YORK — A Texas charter bus company sued by New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration for the cost of supporting migrants has agreed to halt shuttling people from the southern border to the city and its surrounding areas, court papers revealed Wednesday.

Roadrunner Charters Inc. entered into an agreement with Adams’ administration to stop busing migrants to New York City, New Jersey or other places in the vicinity while a case is pending in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

“New York City continues to do our part as we lead the nation in managing this national humanitarian crisis, but reckless political games from the state of Texas will not be tolerated,” Adams said in a statement.

He acknowledged that Roadrunner is one of several companies he sued. “We call on all other bus companies involved in this suit to do the same,” he added of pausing the transport of migrants.

Adams filed the lawsuit in January against 17 bus companies as a means of crimping Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plans to send migrants north. Adams is seeking $700 million to care for migrants bused to the city.

The Democratic mayor had also issued an executive order requiring advance notice from buses and limiting allowed drop-off times for migrants at Port Authority Bus Terminal and elsewhere. As a workaround, some buses began to leave newcomers at New Jersey train stations so they could continue their journey to New York City by rail.

The pace of new arrivals, including traveling via buses chartered by Texas, has slowed in the winter months, but both New York and Texas officials have said they expect an uptick as the weather warms. The number of migrants coming to New York City began spiking last year in late April.

An Abbott spokesperson told POLITICO recently that the governor planned to continue busing migrants north until President Joe Biden “does his job to secure the border.”

Texas has bused more than 106,000 migrants to so-called sanctuary cities, including New York, the spokesperson said.

Roadrunner attorney Robert Hantman said he and his client sympathize with Adams, but the mayor should be suing Abbott.

“Our client has nothing to do with the decision to move the migrants from Texas to New York, and they should not be a named party,” Hantman said in an interview. “We look forward to ultimately being successful because you can’t invite migrants to a sanctuary city and expect a bus company to pay for it. It makes no sense, period.”

This story has been updated to reflect comment from Roadrunner attorney Robert Hantman.