A figurehead of tough-on-illegal immigration policies, Governor Abbott, will make an appearance at sanctuary New York City next week — where he has bused some 40,000 migrants and is promising to keep sending more. 

Mr. Abbott’s appearance is set for April 4 at the annual New York Republican Party gala, Politico first reported. It comes as the governor and Mayor Adams’ administration have clashed repeatedly on migrants, and as Texas is in the middle of a legal battle with the federal government over immigration enforcement. 

The chairman of the New York GOP, Ed Cox, tells the Sun the event “will make for some interesting dialogue.” 

Illegal immigration has been “a huge losing issue for New York City” given the pressure it puts on the social and education systems, he says. Praising Texas’ border operations at Eagle Pass, he says the governor decreased illegal crossings from “thousands to less than ten a day” and that Mr. Abbott “had the guts and the ability to do it and he did it.”

On the border, President Biden “could close it right now,” but he “wants to keep it open,” Mr. Cox says. “New York City being not just a sanctuary city but also the only city in the United States that has a right to shelter, and very good welfare laws, it would be a natural attraction for the migrants.” 

The event is expected to spark conversation about the different policy clashes between Texas and New York.

“Governor Abbott’s Texas is a stark contrast with Kathy Hochul’s New York,” the New York GOP’s communications director, David Laska, tells the Sun. Texas is open to business, has no state income tax, and has education freedom, he says. Meanwhile, businesses are fleeing New York, which has the highest tax burdens in the country and where education is “run by the teachers’ union.”

“Governor Abbott has done more than any Governor in history to secure our border, while Democrats in New York refuse to take on our illegal migrant crisis,” Mr. Laska adds. “Americans are voting with their feet: Texas is growing while New York is projected to lose three Congressional seats in the next census.”

If the event is meant to convey a message to Mr. Adams, it has certainly been received. 

“Instead of inviting Governor Abbott to speak at a gala, we encourage members of the NY GOP to urge their far-right Republican colleagues in Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, something they have blocked for decades,” a representative of City Hall tells the Sun. 

Mr. Abbott’s busing of tens of thousands of migrants “without any coordination” amounted to treating “human beings as political pawns,” the representative says. Since the spring of 2022, more than 184,000 migrants have come to New York City — a majority were not sent there by Texas — and more than 120,000 have been “able to take the next steps in their journeys,” the representative says. “We are exceptionally proud of the compassion and care we have provided, qualities Governor Abbott seems to lack.”

City Hall maintains that Mr. Abbott’s office has not reached out to Mr. Adams’ office and has not responded to calls to coordinate. Representatives of Mr. Abbott weren’t immediately available to respond about working with the Adams administration or about the gala, but a representative confirmed that Mr. Abbott plans to keep sending migrants to New York and other sanctuary cities. 

In January, Mr. Adams sued 17 bus companies that were involved with sending migrants to New York, saying Texas engaged in“reckless political ploys,” as the Sun reported, and last week, one bus company agreed to no longer transport migrants while the lawsuit is pending. 

Yet Mr. Abbott has insisted that migrants are traveling to the sanctuary by choice. 

“Every migrant bused or flown to New York City did so voluntarily, after having been authorized by the Biden Administration to remain in the United States,” he said in January. “As such, they have constitutional authority to travel across the country that Mayor Adams is interfering with.”

Meanwhile, Texas has promised to secure the border in what it says is the absence of the federal government’s law enforcement there. In addition to transporting migrants out of the state, Mr. Abbott has deployed the National Guard, put up barriers along the border, and has repeatedly invoked the Constitution’s “invasion” clause. Most recently, he is in the midst of a contentious legal dispute over legislation allowing the state to arrest and deport migrants.