New York City has filed suit against more than a dozen Texas charter bus companies, claiming they flouted a state law by busing migrants into the five boroughs without paying for their care. 

The lawsuit, lodged by Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park against 17 companies, seeks to "recoup" at least $708 million in migrant-related costs it says the city has incurred since spring 2022. 

A state social services law requires anyone who “knowingly brings, or causes to be brought, a needy person from out of state into this state for the purpose of making him a public charge” to “convey such person out of state or support him at his own expense,” the suit says.

As of late November, the bus companies had brought in millions in revenue for transporting migrants into the city at the behest of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, while failing to cover the costs of their care, the suit adds.

“New York City has and will always do our part to manage this humanitarian crisis, but we cannot bear the costs of reckless political ploys from the state of Texas alone,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “Today’s lawsuit should serve as a warning to all those who break the law in this way.”

The suit claims the bus companies earned approximately $1,650 for each migrant they transported to New York City — far more than the $291 it says a single one-way ticket costs.

The 17 companies combined have bused at least 33,600 migrants into the five boroughs, the suit alleges. 

The filing also accuses the companies of “evading” an executive order Adams issued last week that set drop-off parameters for buses transporting migrants into the city. 

Some of the companies have begun dropping migrants off outside of the city — then paying for their public transit into it — rather than complying with the order, the suit maintains. 

Two days ago, Adams issued harsh criticism of Abbott for what he described as the governor’s “diabolical plan” to drop migrants off in New Jersey instead of New York. 

“We’re going to pivot and shift and be prepared to send the right message to these bus operators. You should not participate in the actions of Governor Abbott,” Adams said.

As of Tuesday, City Hall said more than 161,000 migrants had arrived in the five boroughs since the spring of 2022, more than 67,000 of whom were in the city’s care. 

In her own statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul threw her support behind the litigation, saying it was “about time that the companies facilitating [Abbott’s] actions take responsibility for their role in this ongoing crisis.”

“If they are getting paid to break the law by transporting people in need of public assistance into our state, they should be on the hook for the cost of sheltering those individuals — not just passing that expense along to hard-working New Yorkers,” she said. “I’m proud to support the mayor’s lawsuit.”

Abbott, for his part, released a statement Thursday denouncing the lawsuit as "baseless."

"It's clear that Mayor Adams knows nothing about the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, or about the constitutional right to travel that has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. 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. 

"As such, they have constitutional authority to travel across the country that Mayor Adams is interfering with," he added. "If the Mayor persists in this lawsuit, he may be held legally accountable for his violations."