Abbott urged Adams to “step up and do his job” before passing judgment on Texas.
2 min read
Luca Cacciatore | April 8, 2024
Gov. Greg Abbott and New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ feud continues to escalate.
The Texas Republican laid into Adams during a Sunday appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” where he accused the Democrat of “aiding and abetting” President Joe Biden’s crisis at the southern border.
“Joe Biden has created this open border policy that has allowed illegal immigrants into our country to appeal to and to appease the far leftists in the Democrat Party,” explained Abbott.
“Mayor Adams is just aiding and abetting that by having a sanctuary city status, welcoming in anybody from across the world to live there or stay there in New York City on the bill of New York City,” he added.
The governor further challenged Adams to “step up and do his own job,” citing recent high-profile incidents of violent crime throughout the city.
Abbott’s comments are another response to Adams’ provocative offer for him to stay at a migrant shelter during his visit to the Big Apple last week. The governor previously called the offer a “gimmick” while joining “Hannity” on Thursday.
“What I would suggest to the mayor of New York is there are people dying on his watch—law enforcement officers who are being gunned down by people that have been arrested 20 times,” Abbott told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
The feud between Abbott and Adams is nothing new.
Last year, Adams went after Abbott for giving Texas agencies the greenlight to transport illegal aliens into Democrat-run cities like New York.
As of late March, Texas has transported over 12,500 illegal aliens to Washington, D.C., since April 2022; 40,300 to New York City and 33,000 to Chicago since August 2022; 3,400 to Philadelphia since November 2022; 17,100 to Denver since May 2023; and 1,500 to Los Angeles since June 2023.
Those 40,000+ are part of 157,000 total illegal aliens who are currently in New York City, Adams said during a December press conference at City Hall.
Adams condemned the practice in May 2023 as morally dubious, accusing Texas of transporting individuals against their will and unfairly targeting black-run cities as the destination.
“Not only is this behavior morally bankrupt and devoid of any concern for the well-being of asylum seekers, but it is also impossible to ignore the fact that Abbott is now targeting five cities run by Black mayors,” Adams stated. “Put plainly, Abbott is using this crisis to hurt black-run cities.”
In addition to transporting aliens, participants in Operation Lone Star—Texas’ multi-agency border protection effort—have placed marine buoys in the Rio Grande and concertina wire along its banks.
OLS personnel have apprehended 505,800 aliens and seized over 470 million lethal doses of fentanyl since they started in March 2021. They have also overseen more than 41,000 criminal arrests and issued over 36,500 felony charges.
