New York City Mayor declares state of emergency amid migrant influx, tells El Paso, “stop sending buses to New York”

Editor's Note: An earlier versions of this story incorrectly indicated there was no communication between El Paso and New York City related to asylum seekers. What New York City Mayor Eric Adams said was that there was no agreement between the two cities.

EL PASO, Texas -- The Mayor of New York City declared a state of emergency amid migrant influx.

Migrants have been bused from El Paso to New York City since August.

"From Aug. 23 to Oct. 6, we have chartered a total of 196 buses, for a total of 9,322 people (7,368 to NYC, 1,954 to Chicago)," said Laura Cruz El Paso City Public Spokeswoman in a written statement.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a Q&A on Asylum seekers Friday morning asking El Paso to stop busing migrants.

"We have our own issues here. And we have really, when you look at it, as is been reported, New York State has some of the largest numbers of asylum seekers. We are doing our share. And so there was never that agreement. And El Paso the City Manager, the Mayor, they should stop sending buses to New York. New York can not accommodate the number of buses coming to our city," Adams said.

"So, the migrants are selecting NYC and various other locations, El Paso and OEM is providing assistance to the migrants in the form of food, water, temporary shelter, first aid, and transportation. El Paso and OEM is not selecting NYC and no one is forced to go where they don’t want to go," said Cruz in a written statement.

"There was never an agreement for El Paso to send asylum seekers here. We never told them please send us your asylum seekers. That has never happened," said Adams in a press conference.

Cruz says that El Paso city has been overtly transparent with New York City ahead of migrant transports.

"Before the charter departs El Paso, we advise the NYC Mayor’s Office, the local NYC NGO (Grannies Respond), and the Office of Emergency Management team from New York. We also provide them with a manifest listing the names and ages of the people on the bus," said Cruz in a written statement.

We reached out to Mayor Oscar Leeser's office for reaction to Mayor Adams' comments regarding EL Paso, but we have not heard back.