The state of Texas is sending some asylum seekers to New York City with barcoded bracelets on their wrists, in a possible attempt to keep them from disembarking elsewhere, the head of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs said Thursday. 

Five buses carrying 223 migrants arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal Thursday morning, and five additional buses arrived Wednesday, MOIA and City Hall said. 

Members of MOIA Commissioner Manuel Castro’s team who greeted Wednesday’s arrivals “witnessed how they were scanning and removing barcodes from asylum seekers,” Castro told reporters outside the transit hub Thursday. 

A video city officials shared with CBS New York appeared to show someone cutting barcoded wristbands off migrants’ arms as they stepped off a bus. It wasn’t immediately clear who was removing the bands. 

“He’s treating them as cattle,” Castro said of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s alleged use of the barcode system. “He is attempting to dehumanize people and elicit anti-immigrant hatred for his own political purposes.” 

Some of the migrants Castro’s team spoke with said the wristbands made them feel “fearful of leaving the buses,” he said. 

“They feel like they’re being tracked, and they’re less willing to leave the buses, thinking that if they don’t arrive in New York, they’ll get in trouble,” he said, noting that some asylum seekers who arrived in Midtown Manhattan had hoped to travel to other cities. 

“If this is a voluntary program — if people are allowed to get on these buses, leave these buses, whenever they want — why is there a need for a bracelet and a bar code for individuals?” he added.

NY1 has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment. 

Approximately 7,300 asylum seekers have arrived in the five boroughs since May, City Hall told NY1 on Thursday. Nearly two weeks ago, that figure stood at around 5,000. 

As of Aug. 12, the city said it had opened 11 emergency shelters to temporarily house arrivals. Castro on Thursday said the city had begun using hotel rooms to expand its network of temporary housing for migrants. 

“In fact, we’ve opened 13 hotels to use as temporary shelters,” he said. “We’re a ‘right-to-shelter’ city, so this is how we add capacity.” Last week, New York City Department of Education Chancellor David Banks said the city planned to enroll approximately 1,000 young asylum seekers in public schools this fall. 

With buses carrying migrants regularly arriving in Manhattan, Castro said city officials were still seeking support from the federal government. 

“We don’t know how long this will continue,” he said. “We assume that this will continue through [Abbott’s] reelection campaign, through the month of November, because he’s using this for political purposes.” 

The city’s attempts to coordinate with Abbott on arrival times and other logistics, Castro added, have proven futile.  

One of the buses that pulled into the Port Authority Thursday morning showed up unexpectedly, he said. 

“We didn’t know about this bus,” he said. “I’m happy that we were here to welcome it, but what if we were not here?”