New York City Mayor Eric Adams doubled down on his accusation that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is targeting “Black mayors” with buses full of migrants Tuesday.
Adams initially accused Abbott of targeting “Black-run cities” on Monday, suggesting a racial animus behind the policy. He now denies that he ever called Abbott’s policy “racist,” but suggests Americans should “look at the facts.”
“Let’s be clear … I never used the term racist. That was a little creative journalism that was used,” Adams said Tuesday. “But let’s look at the facts. 108,000 cities in New York. One-hundred and eight thousand. Governor Abbott sent asylum seekers to New York – Black mayor; to Washington – Black mayor; to Houston – Black mayor; to Los Angeles – Black mayor; to Denver – Black mayor. He passed over thousands of cities to land here.”
Abbott’s office was quick to strike back against Adams’ assertion, saying the migrants chose for themselves which city to travel to after being processed through the federal immigration system.
“{snip} He knows full well these migrants willingly chose to go to New York City, since his staff saw firsthand on their secret trip to Texas last year as migrants raised their hands to go on buses to his sanctuary city,” Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, said in a statement.