NYC sues charter bus companies for $708M to cover costs of migrant crisis

NEW YORK (PIX11) – New York City is suing 17 charter bus and transportation companies to recoup the costs it has spent on the migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday. 

“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Adams said in a statement. “Today, we are taking legal action against 17 companies that have taken part in Texas Gov. Abbott’s scheme to transport tens of thousands of migrants to New York City in an attempt to overwhelm our social services system.” 

The lawsuit seeks to recoup approximately $708 million in funds spent on the care of migrants sent to New York City by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott since the spring of 2022.

According to the lawsuit, the 17 charter bus companies knowingly implemented Abbott’s plan without any regard for the individuals they were transporting. 

The lawsuit further alleges the bus and transportation companies have earned millions of dollars in revenue from the state of Texas by transporting migrants from the border to New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.  

The city of New York also noted that companies may have violated a state social services law that states any "person who knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge…shall be obligated to convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense."

Between April 2022 and December 2023, the city has spent an estimated $3.5 billion on shelter and services for the more than 164,500 people who have come through the city’s intake center.

One of the companies named in the lawsuit told PIX11 News Wynne Transportation LLC, a charter bus company out of Texas was Acquired by a new owner in February of 2023.

“I did not acquire the company's contract with the state of Texas," said Jeff Brush. "My company has not had part of that and we do not transport immigrants from the border.”

Wynne Transportation LLC, is a separate operating entity with its separate contracts, according to Brush.