Documents Reveal Eric Adams Sent Migrants to Florida, Texas and China

After lashing out at leading Republicans for busing asylum-seekers to Democrat-led cities, New York Mayor Eric Adams turned around and did something similar — sending dozens of migrants to red states like Florida and Texas.

And Adams didn’t stop at the nation’s borders.

Between April 2022 and April 2023, New York City spent around $50,000 to resettle 114 migrant households in cities around the U.S. and the globe, according to information obtained exclusively by POLITICO through a public information request. Some were sent to countries in South America — and one all the way to China.

The most common destinations were Florida, which received 28 families, and Texas, which received 14.

That represents a fraction of the nearly 79,000 migrants who entered the city since last spring, and is thousands fewer than Gov. Greg Abbott has sent out of Texas. But the fact that New York City paid for trips to Republican strongholds could further inflame national tensions on a subject that is sure to influence both Congressional races and President Joe Biden’s reelection bid.

At the same time, Adams is in a tight spot: The migrant crisis is costing the city billions. And as pressure on its shelter system reaches a critical level, the mayor is trying every possible release valve from busing asylum-seekers to other destinations to housing them in former jails.

In September, Adams condemned Texas Gov. Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for transporting migrants to New York City, calling it a stunt. At the time, Abbott had been sending buses of asylum-seekers to New York City — charters that have continued — while DeSantis sent planes of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

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In May, Adams accused Abbott of targeting cities run by Black mayors — though buses also arrived in Philadelphia, run by a white mayor — with his busing program and said the Texas governor was refusing to coordinate with city officials.

Abbott’s office said its busing program is designed to provide relief to Texas towns far smaller than New York that have been overrun, and that the mayor has touted New York City’s sanctuary status in the past.

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Since last spring, more than 78,700 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, with 48,700 of them still in the city’s social support system, officials said this week. To accommodate the influx, the Adams administration has opened 174 new sites that include emergency shelters and intake centers. Through next summer, the city expects to spend at least $4.3 billion on the crisis.

Last fall, the city announced a reticketing program that assists asylum-seekers who want to be somewhere other than New York. {snip}

Within the United States, the city’s Department of Social Services assisted with travel to 64 cities in 27 states, in addition to helping one household get to Washington, according to the data obtained by POLITICO. After Florida and Texas, the next most common destination was North Carolina, where six families traveled.

The program even sent asylum-seekers abroad. The Adams administration paid for four households to travel to Colombia, two to Peru, and one household apiece to China, Ecuador and Venezuela.

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