Texas governor puts New York on the front line for immigration

STEPPING out into the Port Authority Terminal in midtown Manhattan with her children, Joanna Lopez had no idea where she was.

Two days earlier, the 33-year-old from Venezuela had been put on the bus by Border Patrol officers 2,000 miles away in San Antonio, Texas. All she was told was that she was going somewhere she “would be taken care of ”.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen now,” she sobbed, grabbing her young son’s hand as NGO workers led her towards a waiting yellow cab.

These were the chaotic scenes at New York’s busiest bus terminal, where more than a thousand immigrants from all over central and south America have been bussed in from Texas in the last week on the orders of Governor Greg Abbott. Some had been assured they were being sent to parts of the US where they had family, but instead found themselves in New York.

The Republican governor is trying to pressure the Biden administration into cracking down on migrant crossings at the southern US border.

Eric Adams, New York City’s Democratic mayor, has accused Mr Abbott of using the migrants as “political pawns” in his re-election battle against popular progressive Beto O’Rourke.

The growing row between the parties sets up a battle over America’s immigration policies as the country heads into the all-important November midterms.

More than 1.7 million migrants were recorded trying to cross along the southern border from Oct last year to June, the most recorded in any fiscal year since 1960.

Mr Abbott’s busing plan came in response to Mr Biden’s attempt to lift the Trump administration-issued Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allows authorities to deport asylum-seeking migrants back to Mexico.

Mr Abbott said New York – a so-called sanctuary city that does not prosecute illegal immigrants – was merely “getting a taste” of what border communities have been dealing with in Texas.

Mr Abbott, who is running for reelection this year and is considered a potential presidential candidate for 2024, has made his aggressive stance on migration central to his campaign. A Gallup poll last week found that 38 per cent of Americans want the rate of immigration decreased, up 10 points since 2020.

Meanwhile, 51 per cent registered voters in the Lone Star State said they support Mr Abbott’s handling of immigration at the border, the same amount who backed his busing initiative.

David Paterson, a former Democratic New York governor, said the busing could boost Mr Abbott’s chances of the presidency, likening it to Mr Trump’s border wall pledge.

“Was it a political stunt? Yes. Was it effective? Yes. Sometimes, the stunt works,” he said.

But experts questioned how legal the Texas governor’s actions are. “The Supreme Court has been clear immigration matters fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government,” said attorney Rual Reyes. “Abbott is walking a fine legal line.”

New York could soon find itself pushed to its limits, having been forced to return to the much-criticised practice of placing the homeless in hotels.

In a shelter in the Bronx, Ms Lopez, who says she is fleeing poverty and abuse, has a place for the next few days, but beyond that her future is uncertain.

“I’m not unhappy to be in New York, it’s always been a dream,” she said. “But the way we are being treated every step of the way by the politicians has just been inhumane.”