Led by Abbott, Republicans pounce on Eric Adams at New York fundraiser

NEW YORK — Thousands of miles from the southern border of Texas, where the flow of migrants into the country is defining elections up and down the ballot, national Republicans celebrated their electoral chances in November.

“Joe Biden has turned every state into a border state,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, a leading New York Republican, said at the state GOP’s annual gala Thursday night. “President Trump and Republicans will run, and we will win on securing our border, once and for all.”

Stefanik, who has been floated as a potential running mate for Donald Trump’s comeback presidential bid, joined high-profile members of her party in toasting their perceived success on border security as they gear up for the White House and midterm races this November.

She predicted immigration would be “the top issue in every swing district across the country” in an interview with POLITICO following the event — a who’s who of New York Republicans headlined by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott used his keynote speech to further twist the knife, taking direct aim at Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams over his handling of the migrant surge in his city.

“The complaining by Mayor Adams is nothing short [of] stunning. What he has is a tiny fraction of what Texas gets every day,” Abbott said from the ballroom of the ritzy Manhattan gala, just blocks from a hotel the Adams administration has turned into an intake center for many of the 185,000-plus migrants who have arrived in New York since 2022.

Tickets to the ritzy event, the state party’s first big gala in five years, cost $1,250 per person. Hundreds — including Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley — were in attendance.

Abbott and Adams have been at odds over the Texas governor’s decision to bus migrants from his state to other parts of the country — chief among them New York City. Adams, in turn, has admonished Abbott and sued 17 of the bus companies operating out of Texas for more than $700 million — getting results in one case.

Abbott’s speech underscored how central migration has become in New York House races. Democrats have successfully won elections pummeling the GOP over its stringent abortion bans in other parts of the country; in New York, Republicans are hoping to lure voters by promising to get tougher on the southern border.

Long Island Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who defeated his Republican rival in a February special election, campaigned on fixing the border. Shortly after he was sworn in, Suozzi told reporters Democrats need to lean into the border.

“I knew people were pissed off about the chaos of the border,” Suozzi said. “And there was no way I was not going to talk about what I heard people talking about.”

During his 23-minute remarks, Abbott also slammed Adams for allowing “repeat criminals who go out and kill law enforcement officers like” the on-duty NYPD officer killed last month.

A retired police captain, Adams ran for office on a law-and-order platform and — despite his mixed record on curtailing crime and disorder — is a vehement defender of law enforcement officers.

Abbott’s presence was salt in the wound for the mayor, who has called the governor “morally bankrupt” and a “madman,” blamed him for exacerbating the migrant crisis that has cost the city over $4 billion, accused him of “using this crisis to hurt” cities with Black mayors and blasted him for treating people like “political pawns.”

“I’m going to offer him a stay in one of the HERRCs so he can see what he has created and understand we are treating people with dignity and respect that he should have shown,” Adams told reporters earlier Thursday, referring to the centers the city has built to provide shelter and other services for migrants.

As of January, Texas bussed over 37,100 migrants to New York City since August 2022, according to Abbott’s office. And he has no plans to stop, saying at the gala, “we are going to have to maintain this process until we get a new president this November who will secure the border for the United States of America.”

Abbott even blamed Adams for his plight — an influx of migrants relying on strained municipal resources in a city with liberal immigration policies.

The governor said he initially planned to only send migrants to Washington, D.C. — directly to the residence of Vice President Kamala Karris — when “quite literally out of nowhere, Mayor Adams starts criticizing me for sending them to New York City.” Despite clarifying to City Hall, Abbott said, “the criticism kept coming, kept coming, kept coming, despite our denial.”

“After a while I thought, if I’m gonna get the criticism, I’m gonna get the credit,” he added, drawing tepid applause.

In a post on X, Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy disputed this characterization of the events, saying 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.”

“Keep the receipts, folks,” he added, linking to a screenshot of an email dated Aug. 1, 2022, that appears to show communication between the New York City director of federal affairs and an Abbott aide.

Adams and Abbott have no plans to meet, a City Hall spokesperson said in a statement to POLITICO, adding that “Governor Abbott’s team has not made any outreach to the Adams administration. His administration has still not responded to calls to coordinate from the summer of 2022.”

When Abbott traveled to the city for a breakfast at a conservative think tank last year, they didn’t meet either.

“Instead of inviting Governor Abbott to speak at a gala, we encourage members of the NYGOP to urge their far-right Republican colleagues in Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something they have blocked for decades,” an Adams spokesperson said in a recent statement to POLITICO.

Left-leaning groups blasted Abbott’s appearance Thursday night.

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, called the Texas governor “a racist bigot who has callously bussed asylum-seekers across the country for cheap political points.”

Ana María Archila, co-director of the New York Working Families Party, called his attendance at the event “a reflection of the party’s moral collapse” and said in a statement Abbott “is not welcome in New York State.”

Emily Ngo contributed to this report.