New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) will bus migrants to suburbs outside his city after months of criticizing Republican governors for sending migrants to New York.
Adams announced on Friday the city will bus hundreds of migrants to New York's suburbs, angering local leaders. The city planned to house about 300 men in hotels in Rockland and Orange Counties.
Adams last week criticized Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) for "deciding to play politics with people's lives" by busing migrants to his city and to Chicago, Denver, and Washington, D.C., all of which call themselves "sanctuary cities" for migrants.
"Yes, New York City will remain a sanctuary city under an Adams administration," Adams tweeted in October. He said in January that his city has "no room" for migrants.
Rockland and Orange Counties declared a state of emergency to prevent Adams from busing migrants to the community, the New York Post reported:
The emergency declaration was issued by County Executive Steve Neuhaus late Monday in response to city Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to start housing scores of migrants at motels in both Rockland and Orange counties to shift the burden away from the Big Apple.
"This seems like the Wild West — and it’s frustrating," the Republican exec said in a video posted to his Facebook page on Tuesday.
Under Orange County’s state of emergency, hotels, motels and other short-term rentals are prohibited from accepting any asylum seekers who could potentially be bused to the region.
The drastic move comes just days after neighboring Rockland County Executive Ed Day, also a Republican, issued a similar declaration — and threatened to grab Adams "by the throat" if he tried to offload the city’s growing migrant problem onto his tight-knight community.
Other Democratic leaders who received busloads of migrants from southern border communities have also changed their tone after once touting their "sanctuary" policies.
California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) said in December his state was "about to break" because of an influx of migrants. Washington, D.C., mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public health emergency after Texas sent migrants to her city.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R.) also made headlines for sending migrants to Democrat-run "sanctuary" cities, notably in September to Martha’s Vineyard, which removed migrants from the wealthy island in a matter of hours. DeSantis is gearing up to ship migrants from his state again as his administration hires companies to handle the logistics.