https://apnews.com/article/new-york-migrant-bus-lawsuit-texas-1c8e515f9c57d50dbbd66606f995ec24
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.
