New York City Mayor Eric Adams claimed he was misquoted when media outlets reported him saying that migrants being shipped from Texas bailed before reaching their expected final destination due to fear of the Big Apple.
Instead, Adams said Monday that "misinformation" from Lone Star State officials accounted for fewer migrants than expected getting off a bus that he met Sunday morning at Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal.
"In our conversation [Sunday], no one said that migrants didn't come here because they didn't feel safe. We were very clear," Adams insisted during a press conference Monday in Queens.
"The misleading information that was coming out of Texas, people thought, when they got off the buses, they were going to be arrested or apprehended and I think that Gov. [Greg] Abbott, what he's doing, is just so inhumane."
Abbott, R-Texas, announced Friday that the first bus headed to New York pulled into the borough of Manhattan earlier that morning. Texas began busing migrants from the southern border to Washington, D.C., in response, Abbott said, to the Biden administration's open border policies, which reports say have overwhelmed Texas communities.
Adams on Sunday expected to greet about 40 migrants being shipped from Texas, but instead only 14 got off the bus. The mayor said that was due to people bailing due to "fear" of the city, the New York Post reported.
On Monday, Adams put all the blame on Abbott.
"We were happy to have a mayor who greeted the asylum seekers instead of putting them, placing them on a bus with a 44-hour ride, very few breaks, no food, no direction and clear information," Adams said. "It was a good job with the coordination of volunteers and what our office did in the morning.
"Our goal is every asylum seeker that comes to New York, we are going to give them shelter and support that they need."
Adams said he expected 50-100 migrants daily arriving in the city from Texas, and added that "thousands are here" already.
He said that his team had a call scheduled with White House officials later Monday to discuss the situation.
"They want to help," Adams said of the White House team. "They made it clear they want to give us the assistance that we need."
Adams said his deputy mayor of human resources is "doing a complete analysis of what's needed," including "the price tag."
"We have a requirement to house [people] within a period of time," he said, "and we're going to use every available means to do so."
Before ending the press conference, Adams again took verbal shots at Abbott.
"There were some [migrants] who wanted to go to other cities where they have families and [Texas officials] just packed them on a bus with any direction," Adams said.
"It's just a mean and cruel thing that he's doing. Someone seeking refuge of … for … from leaving a horrific environment."
Asked what his direct message was to Abbott, Adams said: "Be a true American. This is a place where the Statue of Liberty sits in the harbor, and we say bring us your tired. Those who are yearning to be free. That's what these asylum seekers are doing. And I don't think anything is more anti-American than shipping people on a bus, 45-hour trip without any of the basic needs that they have."
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