New York City deployed a new tactic Friday morning in an effort to counter Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s increasing flow of migrant buses: drowning the bus companies and their drivers in traffic violations.
Two more buses arrived at the city’s Port Authority Bus Terminal just after 6 am Friday, adding to the more than 17,000 migrants Abbott has bused to New York in a sick political stunt.
This time, however, a half-dozen uniformed members of the NYPD Highway Patrol’s Motor Carrier Safety Unit were waiting.
The first bus to arrive was a blue Volvo bearing Mexican “Autotransporte Federal Turismo” license plates, owned and operated by a company out of Cedar Hill, Texas, called Autobuses La Sultana LC. A white document taped to the windshield read “TEXAS 144- HOUR PERMIT” and “VALID IN TEXAS ONLY” and was dated Oct. 6. The second bus had Texas plates and was marked “EJECTIVO TRAVEL.”
The driver of the first bus, 38-year-old Robert Reas, told The Daily Beast he lives in Monterrey, Mexico, where the bus is based. He said he began his journey by crossing the border at Laredo, Texas, then driving to El Paso, where he and his co-driver picked up three dozen migrants at “an institution,” including a half-dozen children. The migrants were from Venezuela and Ecuador, he said.
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Reas said the bus stopped in Dallas and Nashville, letting out three or four people at each city, then continuing the 40-hour drive to New York. He said it was his second trip to New York with migrants.
Cops set out inspecting both nozzles with a fine-tooth comb, examining the tires and checking the air brakes, lights, and windshield wipers. They paid particular attention to a device that regulates tire air pressure.
They also inspected Reas’ license and his log book, in which he has to record information like when he rests and how long he drives at a time.
After the inspection, officers left both drivers with a handful of summonses; Reas counted a half-dozen. The Daily Beast has asked the NYPD for a run-down of the violations cited.
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