NEW YORK (AP) — New York City can't use an unconstitutional, two-century-old “anti-pauper” law to block the state of Texas from offering migrants free bus rides to the city from the southern border, a state judge has ruled.
The court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Mayor Eric Adams in January against charter bus companies contracted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. It sought to bar them from knowingly dropping off “needy persons,” citing an 1817 state law that criminalized bringing an indigent person into the state “for the purpose of making him a public charge.”
Justice Mary Rosado said in a sternly worded decision that the law is unconstitutional for several reasons.
For one, she wrote, states are not permitted to regulate the interstate transportation of people based on their economic status.
The statute also “violates a fundamental right — the right to travel,” she added.
Rosado said requiring bus operators to screen passengers based on the possibility that they may need public assistance when they get to their destination would infringe on that fundamental right, and punishing the bus companies for failing to keep poor people out of the city would be improper.
The judge concluded by saying that if city officials want to do something, they should turn to Congress rather than ask the court to enforce “an antiquated, unconstitutional statute to infringe on an individual's right to enter New York based on economic status.”
Starting in 2022, the state of Texas began offering migrants free bus rides to cities with Democratic mayors. At least 46,000 were sent to New York, 19,000 to Denver, 37,000 to Chicago and over 17,000 to other cities, according to Abbott's office.
At the time, Adams, a Democrat, said the trips were illegal and amounted to “political ploys from the state of Texas.”
It would have been difficult for New York City to sue Texas due to a legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity, so it went after the private charter companies instead.
Despite the court loss, the Adams administration said the lawsuit has had its desired effect: Fewer charter buses brought immigrants to the city after it was filed, and none have been identified since June, according to a statement from his office. Adams has not given up on further action, either.
“We are reviewing our legal options to address the costs shifted to New York City as a result of the Texas busing scheme,” mayoral spokesperson Liz Garcia said in a statement.
The New York Civil Liberties Union applauded the court's decision.
“Mayor Adams is not above the law and cannot keep wrongly exploiting the plight of newly arrived immigrants to bolster his own political agenda,” NYCLU senior staff lawyer Beth Haroules said. “Everyone, regardless of their citizenship status or income, has the right to freely travel and reside anywhere within the United States.”
Abbot said during one visit to New York City that Adams was right to be upset about the surge in migrants but should be blaming President Joe Biden.
Adams ultimately did criticize the federal government, saying it had an obligation to help the city pay for housing and providing services to migrants.
New York has long provided shelter to more homeless people than any other U.S. city, in part because of a 1981 court ruling requiring it to shelter anyone who asks for it. City officials say they have provided shelter and other services to more than 200,000 immigrants in the past two years, only a fraction of whom arrived via Texas-sponsored buses.
As the new arrivals swelled, New York and other cities ended up following Abbott's lead, offering migrants free bus tickets to other places. New York paid over 4,800 fares for immigrants to travel to Texas, including some who had been bused from there, according to city officials.
FILE - Asylum seekers arrive at the Roosevelt Hotel on Friday, May 19, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.
The demonstration in Baku, Azerbaijan will be echoed at sites around the world in a global “day of action” for climate justice that's become an annual event.
Activists waved flags, snapped their fingers, and hummed and mumbled chants in a silent protest, with many covering their mouths with the word “Silenced.”
Demonstrators held up signs calling for more money to be pledged for climate finance, which involves cash for transitioning to clean energy and adapting to climate change. It comes as negotiators at the venue try to hammer out a deal for exactly that — but progress has been slow and observers say the direction of any agreement is still unclear.
Lidy Nacpil said protestors like her are “not surprised” about how negotiations are going. But past wins — like a loss and damage fund that gives developing nations cash after extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change — keep organizers going, said Nacpil, a coordinator with the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.
“The role we play is to increase the pressure,” she said of the action. “We know we’re not going to get the results that the world needs in this round of negotiations, but at least to bring us many steps closer is our hope, is our aim.”
She added: “I think we have no option but to keep fighting ... It’s the instinctive response that anyone, any living being, living creatures will have, which is to fight for life and fight for survival.”
Tasneem Essop said she was inspired by the action, which was challenging to organize. “To be able to pull off something where people feel their own power, exercise their own power and get inspired in this creative way, I’m super excited about this,” she said.
Essop says she’s “not very” optimistic about an outcome on finance, but knows next week will be pivotal. “We can’t end up with a bad deal for the peoples of the world, those who are already suffering the impacts of climate change, those who need to adapt to an increasing and escalating crisis,” she said. “We fight until the end.”
Negotiators at COP29, as the talks are known, are working on a deal that might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to poorer nations. Many are in the Global South and already suffering the costly impacts of weather disasters fueled by climate change. Several experts have said $1 trillion a year or more is needed both to compensate for such damages and to pay for a clean-energy transition that most countries can't afford on their own.
Samir Bejanov, deputy lead negotiator of this year's climate talks said in a press conference that the climate finance talks were moving too slowly.
“I want to repeat our strong encouragement to all parties to make as much progress as possible,” he said. “We need everyone to approach the task with urgency and determination.”
Diego Pacheco, a negotiator from Bolivia, said that the amount of money on the table for developing countries needs to be “loud and clear.”
“No more speeches but real money,” he said.
Observers were also disappointed at the pace of progress.
“This has been the worst first week of a COP in my 15 years of attending this summit,” said Mohamed Adow, of climate think tank Power Shift Africa. "There’s no clarity on the climate finance goal, the quality of the finance or how it’s going to be made accessible to vulnerable countries.”
“I sense a lot of frustration, especially among the developing country blocks here,” he said.
Panama environment minister Juan Carlos Navarro agreed, telling The Associated Press he is “not encouraged” by what he’s seeing at COP29 so far.
“What I see is a lot of talk and very little action,” he said, noting that Panama is among the group of countries least responsible for warming emissions but most vulnerable to the damage caused by climate change-fueled disasters.
“We must face these challenges with a true sense of urgency and sincerity,” he said. “We are dragging our feet as a planet.”
Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles contributed.
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Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
An activist holds a megaphone that says silenced during a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Raphael Abacan leads a demonstration during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
An activist participates in a demonstration with the word silenced over his mouth at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Activists participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People arrive for the day outside the venue for the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
People demonstrate with a sign that reads "keep your promises COP39 for the people" at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration for land rights at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A person walks holding an object with the likeness of a house that says tax over health at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
