NYC mayor declines Abbott’s invite to border as Texas governor amps up feud with big city leaders

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declined Gov. Greg Abbott’s invitation to visit the U.S-Mexico border, an offer made after Adams accused the Texas Republican of overwhelming homeless shelters in his city by recklessly busing migrants there.

Abbott sent an invitation to both Adams and Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser after the two Democratic mayors criticized Abbott’s migrant busing program, according to The Hill. The pair both accused Abbott of stretching municipal services to the breaking point by dumping migrants picked up in South Texas in their cities.

“As Governor, I invite you to visit our border region to see firsthand the fire situation that only grows more urgent with each passing day, and to meet with the local officials, who like yourselves, realize this matter deserves immediate federal action,” Abbott wrote in the invitation, according to The Hill.

In explaining his refusal of the invite, a spokesman for Adams said the mayor would rather see Abbott “focus his energy and resources on providing support and resources” to migrants instead of trying to arrange a “photo-op at the border,” Fox News reports. 

Abbott has claimed he’s sending asylum seekers to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate the Biden White House’s inability to control immigration. Critics on both the left and right have blasted the governor’s move as a publicity stunt.

Last week, Bowser sent a letter to the director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management saying that the National Guard is needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis caused by Abbott sending migrants to her city. Abbott responded to Bowser’s claim by demanding that the D.C. mayor “stop attacking Texas.”

So far, the Lone Star State has bused at least 6,100 migrants to the nation’s capital, an Abbott spokesperson told the Texas Tribune.

In an appeal for additional help from the federal government, Adams this week noted that some 4,000 asylum seekers had entered his city’s homeless shelter system since late May, according to NPR.

Bowser hasn’t yet said whether she will join Abbott at the border.

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This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 9, 2022.