Edison, NJ, mayor has bus ready to send migrants back to border
NEW YORK - The mayor of Edison, New Jersey, said he has a charter bus on standby to send migrants back to the U.S.-Mexico border as busloads of migrants arrive in the suburbs surrounding New York City in an attempt to circumvent Mayor Eric Adams's new executive order.
"Edison does not have the ability or the financial means to support migrants, and I can't be any more clear that I am the son of immigrants," Edison Mayor Sam Joshi said during a Wednesday morning interview on Good Day New York.
Migrants are arriving in busloads to New Jersey train stations, according to state officials, and then they're reportedly taking public transit to the Big Apple. This influx in New Jersey is likely a response to Adams's new executive order, which cracks down on buses as Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott continues to pay for migrants to leave his state.
Joshi told Good Day New York at least two migrant buses have come to Edison in recent days.
One stopped at the Edison NJ Transit station, assuming it ran 24/7. After an interaction with police, the person operating the charter decided to leave.
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"They said that they were hired by the government, and then they proceeded to say that they were hired by the Texas governor," Joshi said.
Joshi said even though Edison, population 108,000, is home to several immigrant groups, the community stands by his position.
"We don't have the means to address them … [this is] squarely a federal national issue. It should not fall on the laps of myself as mayor or any mayor," he said.
New Jersey's response to migrant busloads
Jersey City, Secaucus and Trenton are also seeing an influx of migrant arrivals, according to state officals.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s office has said the state is primarily being used as a transit point and that "nearly all of" the migrants are headed to New York. Murphy’s office said the state is working with federal and local authorities, but didn’t provide further details.
Murphy said last summer that New Jersey couldn’t support the arrivals amid discussion that the Biden administration was considering using the Atlantic City airport as a possible destination. It was a change of tune for Murphy, a self-styled progressive who first ran for governor in 2017 and suggested he would declare New Jersey a "sanctuary state," a loose term for a place with immigrant-friendly policies.
Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said most migrants who arrived in his city have moved on to New York, but 10 people have stayed with family in the area.
"We empathize when someone is trying to seek asylum or when someone is trying to take them in. But we don’t have the capacity to take them in," he said.
Abbott has defended his tactics by saying President Joe Biden needs to do more to secure the border. His spokesperson Renae Eze on Tuesday also renewed attacks on Democratic mayors, saying their hypocrisy "knows no bounds."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.