Republican governors want sanctuary cities to walk their talk

¡Hola elitistas amantes de los liberales! Nosotros estamos aquí ¿Qué hay para el almuerzo?

For those of you around for whom English is still your primary language, the above roughly translates to: “Hello, liberal-loving elitists. Here we are. What’s for lunch?”

It seems cities like New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other Democratic bastions have declared themselves sanctuary cities, meaning everyone is welcomed, including illegal immigrants (or as Joe Biden refers to them, “noncitizens.”) They have stated flatly they will not honor efforts to enforce immigration law. Now there is a campaign among border states to transport migrants to these cities and challenge Democrat-run governments which have long touted their openness to immigrants to walk their talk.

Republican governors in Texas, Arizona and Florida, which are overrun with immigrants, are taking the sanctuary providers up on their kind offer and are shipping them their very own — uh — whatchamacallits.

This past week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shipped two planeloads of 50 immigrants to — are you ready? — tony Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. I can hear the martini glasses hitting the floor at cocktail parties across the island along with dropped jaws.

Immigrant-rights activists have accused DeSantis of using the newly arrived noncitizens as “political pawns.” Massachusetts politicians called it a cruel ploy. I call it a political “gotcha.” You say you love illegal immigrants? Here, have some of mine.

“We are not a sanctuary state,” De-Santis said, “and it’s better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction, and yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures.” The governor added, “Every community in America should be sharing in the burdens. It shouldn’t all fall on a handful of red states.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott says his state intentionally sent two buses of migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in the nation’s capital. “VP Harris claims our border is ‘secure’ & denies the crisis,” Abbott tweeted. “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job and secure the border.”

Texas had already bused nearly 9,000 migrants to New York City and Washington, DC. Abbott’s attitude seem to be: If those cities like undocumented/ illegal/noncitizen/immigrants so much, they should have few thousand of their own.

Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey has had several busloads of immigrants dropped off near the U.S. Capitol. A spokesman for the governor said, “This is a problem caused by Washington. We’re bringing it to Washington and we expect Washington to foot the bill. We’re going to send them a bill.”

Other Democratic sanctuary cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle are bracing themselves for an unexpected influx of immigrants from these border states. Clearly, these cities and those that run them have been caught off-guard by the action of those three state governors.

Right now, the recipients of these noncitizen persons are mostly sputtering righteous indignation, although a group of liberal activists say they are headed to Texas to block future buses of immigrants from leaving the state. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he’s sending a “fact-finding delegation” to Texas to see how that state treats migrants and to see “firsthand, the reportedly inhumane conditions in which asylum seekers are being subjected by the state of Texas.”

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I’d be careful with my threats. As the old saying goes, “Don’t mess with Texas.”

All of this furor is a result of Joe Biden easing immigration rules and letting a lot of people into the United States that I am sure Mexico and Venezuela and other countries are glad to get out of their hair.

Sanctuary city liberals are wringing their hands at the cold-hearted actions of border state Republican governors and their perceived mistreatment of young families wanting a fresh start in the U.S. But there is no doubt a lot of bad actors are sneaking in as well, maybe even a terrorist or two. Why should Texas and Florida and Arizona bear all the risk? Let’s all share and share alike.

In the meantime at Martha’s Vineyard, I suspect things may never be the same at the Friday night cocktail parties. Instead of, “Darling, have you read Barack’s latest book? He signed it for me, you know,” you are more likely to hear, “A sus canapés les vendría bien un poco más de aceite de trufa.” (Your canapes could use a little more truffle oil.”) Welcome to America.

You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb