Eric Adams welcomes Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to NYC with offer to sleep at a migrant shelter

Mayor Adams offered a sarcastic helping hand to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott during his New York City stay, saying Thursday that the Republican could sleep in a migrant shelter “so he can see what he has created.”

Abbott, who has helped feed the migrant crisis in the city through a policy of busing thousands of migrants from Texas since 2022, was expected to be in New York for an annual Republican fundraiser.

His sojourn to the Big Apple is widely viewed as a window into the GOP’s strategic thinking as the presidential contest and national congressional races heat up.

Asked about the governor’s visit, Adams suggested Abbott lodge in one of the many Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers, or HERRCs, that the city has set up to accommodate the more than 180,000 migrants who’ve flooded in during Adams’ term in City Hall.

“I’m going to offer him a stay in one of the HERRCs, so he can see what he has created and understand how we are treating people with the dignity and respect that he should have shown,” Adams said during a press conference in City Hall.

“I’m not quite sure why he’s here and what he’s doing while here,” the mayor continued. “But he’s going to see how you can manage the crisis with coordination.”

Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to an email and declined to comment over the phone.

For months, Adams has lambasted Abbott for failing to coordinate with the city in his response to the migrant situation and has blamed him for pawning off the crisis on cities around the U.S. He has also criticized President Biden over national immigration policy.

The mayor, as well, has weathered his own criticisms, with advocates pouncing on him for seeking to diminish the city’s right to shelter law and for the waits for shelter some migrants have experienced.

Adams has contended that his administration has been successful in encouraging migrants to find housing elsewhere by limiting shelter stays to 30 or 60 days. In January, he and the city’s top lawyer announced the city was suing 17 charter bus companies responsible for transporting migrants to New York.

On Thursday night, Abbott addressed his policy of sending migrants to New York City, drawing a rebuke from an Adams spokesman.

The Texas governor attempted to place blame for the policy on Adams, claiming he only started sending migrants to New York City after coming under criticism from the mayor.

“After a while I figured, gosh, if I’m gonna get the criticism, I want to get the credit and thus began the busing of illegal migrants to the sanctuary city of New York,” he said at the state GOP’s annual gala at the Hilton in Midtown.

The mayor’s office disputed that account.

“Remember that [Abbott] lied in 2022 about this and falsely claimed we never reached out when we found he was bussing migrants to NYC before he finally admitted to doing so,” tweeted Adams spokesman Fabien Levy.

With Kerry Burke