New York City sues bus companies for transporting migrants from Texas

(Reuters) - New York City on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing 17 bus companies of violating state law by transporting more than 33,000 migrants to the city from Texas as part of a campaign by the state's Republican governor to expel people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

The city is seeking $708 million, which it says is the cost is has incurred to provide shelter and services to the migrants over the last two years, in the lawsuit filed in New York state court in Manhattan.

The lawsuit accuses charter bus operators that contracted with Texas of violating a 19th-century New York law that requires anyone who transports "a needy person" likely to seek government assistance from another state to cover their expenses.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

By Daniel Wiessner