NYC officials claim Texas using wristbands to barcode migrants bused to city
NEW YORK - Five buses carrying a total of 223 migrants and asylum seekers from Texas arrived at the Port Authority Terminal on Thursday, just a day after 237 asylum seekers arrived, setting a record for the most migrants to make their way to New York City in a single day.
City officials say that over 7,000 migrants are now in shelters across the city.
New York City officials have expressed concerns that some of the migrants who have arrived were wearing bracelets with barcodes on them.
"Governor Abbott is now bar-coding asylum seekers," said Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs. "Yesterday we witnessed how they were scanning and removing barcodes from asylum seekers as they were arriving. He is treating people as less than human, he is treating them as cattle, we have been condemning this type of behavior, he is attempting to dehumanize people."
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Castro said that many of the people wanted to get off the bus in different states, but were afraid to do so, fearing they were being tracked.
Abbott accused New York City Mayor Eric Adams of hypocrisy in an essay written in the New York Post on Wednesday.
Migrants to NYC, DC
Thousands of asylum seekers are caught in a political battle exposing the deep divide between Republicans in border states and Democrats in the country's most liberal cities. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started sending busloads of asylum seekers to New York City and Washington, D.C., in April.
"Adams talked the talk about being a sanctuary city — welcoming illegal immigrants into the Big Apple with warm hospitality. Talk is cheap. When pressed into fulfilling such ill-considered policies, he wants to condemn anyone who is pressing him to walk the walk," Abbott wrote.
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Meanwhile, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said that with more and more migrants arriving, the city's resources were being stretched thin.
Castro confirmed Thursday that the city already has a location arranged for a welcome center where asylum seekers will be able to go and get the services they need and that the center will open next week.
Whether more buses will arrive tomorrow, officials said they couldn't say.