Mayors ask administration to help with asylum-seekers

NEW YORK >> The Democratic mayors of New York and Washington are asking the Biden administration to help with what they say is a surge in their cities of asylum-seeking migrants from border states, eliciting gleeful reactions from Republicans who say the pleas are evidence the U.S. is in an immigration crisis.

Muriel Bowser of Washington and Eric Adams of New York have plunged deep into the national debate about how to deal with migrants appearing at the U.S. border with Mexico, seizing on bus trips paid for by the states of Texas and Arizona to send migrants to the nation's capital after their release by federal immigration authorities at the border.

Adams had incorrectly claimed migrants have also been bused to New York. He downplayed those misstatements Thursday, but stood firm in his criticism of the tactic touted by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona, both Republicans.

“The mere fact that they sent people out of their states, people who were seeking refuge in our country, then sent them away — did they deny that?” Adams said. “They ended up here because they didn't get the support there.”

Abbott and Ducey have trumpeted the bus trips, a months-old practice that has been long on political theater but short on practical impact.

About 5,200 migrants have been bused from Texas since April and more than 1,100 from Arizona since May. The governors call the practice a voluntary free ride that gets migrants closer to family or support networks.

But Bowser said the asylum-seekers are being “tricked,” as many don't get close enough to their final destinations and some are ditched at Union Station near the U.S. Capitol.