NEW JERSEY (PIX11) -- A new year and a new chapter in a year’s old saga involving the migrant crisis.
Now, buses are bringing asylum seekers to New Jersey to avoid Mayor Eric Adams's executive order, which restricts when arrivals can happen in the city.
So now hundreds are arriving by train at Penn Station from the Garden State.
"When the police officers asked the [bus] drivers, 'what are you doing here?' they said, 'waiting for the trains'", Edison Mayor Sam Joshi said.
Chaperones are then assisting with train tickets into Penn Station into Midtown, Manhattan. Mayor Joshi believes it is an apparent effort to skirt Mayor Adams’ order to block unannounced buses with fines and arrests.
"When our officers stopped the bus, we don't know if they're carrying weapons, they have no ID and it's completely unacceptable," Joshi said.
Officials say roughly ten buses with 400 migrants have gone to Edison, Fanwood, Secaucus, and Trenton.
Joshi said he chartered a bus to send any asylum seekers back across the southern border. "We don't have the capacity or resources to take in migrants, illegals," he explained.
Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli said perhaps the NYC's order is too stringent.
Last week Adams announced, that it is necessary to control the chaos.
Immigration advocate Power Malu believes it is an effort to stem their arrivals. "I call it just a bogus attempt at further harassing the migrants and those bringing them to NYC," Malu said.
Monday, a city hall spokesperson said in a statement it is encouraging other mayors to do the same.
Governor Phil Murphy’s office said it is coordinating with federal and New York partners to try and better prepare for this new development.
English (US) ·