The TINSTAFFL Principle Applies
That there is no such thing as a free lunch is evident in cities and states that declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants now that the worm has turned.
Some Dem governors are mustering National Guard units to help in managing the flow of illegal immigrants they invited but never expected to show up because they were too far from the border.
Let those icky racist Republican border state governors deal with it.
But there are lessons to be learned here, not that any Democrat will learn them.
The first lesson is that Democrats who aspire to office will say things they clearly do not mean, promise things they never intend to deliver and do things they accuse others of doing, just to get a vote.
The second is that the TINSTAAFL principle applies to more than just economics. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always pays - and now you are getting the check.
Actions have consequences. Making your city or state a "sanctuary" where no immigration actions or laws will be enforced and no notifications of illegal immigration status will be referred to the Feds, has a cost that putting a "No human is illegal" sign in your yard can pay. Your virtue status is of no concern to them.
Sooner or later, illegal immigrants will believe your rhetoric, even though you know you don't believe it, and they will come - or some governor or mayor from a state or city that has been bearing the brunt of a human wave of welfare checks decides to arrange for you to put your money where your mouth is and ships your share of the burden to you.
See, the illegal immigrants don't care about their virtue, they want what you promised them in the verbal contract you made with them the minute you declared that you were going to feed and protect them.
Speaking of that, I can't wait till the ACLU pulls together a group of illegals and sues San Francisco and New York for breaching that verbal contract.
The third lesson is that your leaders do not care about you - at all. Yesterday it was reported that over 30,000 "migrant" children enrolled in New York City schools with zero proof of covid vaccination. Never mind that I think vaccinating kids for this virus is a waste of time and resources, just remember how New York City treated the citizens who were unvaccinated, so either they care about you or they don't. My money is on the latter.
The last lesson is that you should buy a mirror because your hypocrisy is showing. Hypocrisy has a shelf life, and yours just ran out. For years, Democrats have decried the use of National Guard troops to staunch the flow at the border, but now blue state governors are calling on them for help. And if surviving the 24 Hours of Humanitarian Crisis on Martha's Vineyard didn't shame you, chances are you lack the shame gene.
Remember these names: Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, London Breed, Gretchen Whitmer, Kathy Hochul, Eric Adams, Maura Healy, Brandon Johnson and J.B. Pritzker, President JRB Ware, Kamala Harris, Alejandro Mayorkas and KJP because these are the people who flooded your tony neighborhoods with illegal immigrants, by some estimates in numbers larger than the population of any one of 25 of the 50 states.
Remember that none of these people are calling for the real solution, closing the border, they just want more of your taxpayer money that grows as the unending flow of low to no skilled illegal aliens, terrorist sympathizers and fentanyl keeps coming.
They say the first step to recovery is recognizing you have a problem and baby, you got one.
Were you a carpenter, you would be a " one strike" worker. Michael, your essays hit the nail on the head virtually every time.
Robert A. Heinlein was the first I know of to use TANSTAAFL (with “ain’t) in “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” (1966). Sadly I remember that more than the rest of the novel.