New Jersey leaders say migrants are using trains to evade NYC limits on arrivals

Illegal immigrants are arriving en masse at New Jersey train stations in an apparent attempt to evade New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ limits on when and how migrants can arrive in the city.

It is the latest instance of blue-state leaders grappling with planes and busloads of migrants from border states that say they are sick of grappling with an unchecked flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border under President Biden. They’re losing patience and seeking help from Washington, where Senate Republicans and the White House are negotiating border funding.

At the local level, officials in Jersey City said they were waiting for guidance from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on how to proceed, after nearly 400 migrants had arrived at train stations in Secaucus, Fanwood, Edison and Trenton over the weekend.

Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli noted that Mr. Adams, a Democrat, requires bus operators to notify his city of arrivals at least 32 hours in advance and drop off migrants only between 8:30 a.m. and noon on weekdays.

“It seems quite clear the bus operators are finding a way to thwart the requirements of the executive order by dropping migrants at the train station in Secaucus and having them continue to their final destination,” the mayor said.

Texas says it has bused over 33,000 migrants to the Big Apple since August 2022 in an attempt to pressure liberal cities and states to accept the burden of the migrant surge.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said an additional 12,500 migrants have been sent to D.C., 28,000 to Chicago, 13,000 to Denver, 3,400 to Philadelphia and 1,300 to Los Angeles as part of his program to make so-called sanctuary states and cities take on more of the burden of housing and absorbing the influx.

Hundreds of migrants flew from San Antonio, Texas, to Rockford, Illinois, on Sunday and made their way to Chicago on buses.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, said Mr. Abbott continues to “sow seeds of chaos” by refusing to coordinate the arrivals.

“This is certainly a matter of, not just of our national security, but it’s the type of chaos that this governor is committed to administering,” Mr. Johnson said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” while acknowledging the burden facing Mr. Abbott and other locales. “What we have said repeatedly is that we need Congress to act to provide the resources that are needed in order to carry out this mission.”

Mr. Biden included funding for the border in a security package that also includes money for Israel and Ukraine, but Republicans insist the administration still isn’t taking border security seriously.

While senators work on a border-funding figure that can satisfy the GOP side, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans will visit the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday to see the migrant crisis first-hand. They will meet with state and local leaders to discuss border security, a topic that will likely be prominent in the 2024 election cycle.

The issue is a major one for Republicans who say Mr. Biden is asleep at the wheel while illegal immigrants flow across the southern border from Mexico and Central America — or other places around the globe, using the southern border as their preferred route.

Democratic leaders in the Northeast have criticized the administration as they buckle from the strain of housing the migrants or finding them jobs.

Mr. Adams recently said 14,700 migrants arrived within the prior month, including record overnight arrivals. He responded by threatening chartered buses with impoundment if they did not adhere to limits on arrival times, prompting the apparent end-run to New Jersey.

“I have been advised [that] the state of New Jersey has a plan in place and we will be working closely with the governor’s office, all law enforcement agencies, and the county to monitor this situation,” said Mr. Gonnelli, in Secaucus.

The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Murphy’s office for comment on the New Jersey officials’ concerns.