(NewsNation) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday said he’s not to blame for the number of migrants coming into New York and that what’s happening there is nothing compared to what he sees in his own state.
Speaking at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, Abbott acknowledged that what’s happening in New York “might not be the common circumstance or what you were looking for,” according to Politico.
However, the Republican added, “What is going on in New York is calm and organized compared to the real chaos of what we see on the border — not every day, but every hour of every day.”
Abbott started sending buses of migrants to so-called “sanctuary cities” last spring. Since then, Abbott said, Texas has given bus tickets to about 42,000 migrants, with 15,800 being sent to New York City.
More than 110,000 migrants have entered the city since last year, with some coming on their own and others sent by social service organizations or municipalities.
Officials in New York City and the state itself have said this has put a strain on their resources, with Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, earlier this month directing agencies to trim overtime costs to rectify this. He’s also limited the number of days adult migrants without children can stay in the city’s homeless shelter system, though this was slammed by advocates as unnecessary and heartless.
While Abbott agreed what’s happening in New York is unsustainable, he pushed back on the idea he’s most at fault.
“The lead importer of migrants to New York is not Texas, it’s Joe Biden,” he claimed Wednesday. “It’s a crisis. It’s chaotic, and it must stop.”
The Biden administration’s border policies have been criticized by Abbott, and Adams has also called federal officials out for not doing more to help, but the White House has defended itself, calling the Texas governor’s recent actions a “stunt” last week.
When it comes to New York, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House has given the city $140 million in aid.
“I will say this: The President has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else,” Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this month, although some have questioned this claim.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.