Whenever I think of the secular left, I think of people who are desperately trying to portray themselves to others as generous and compassionate, even as they pass the risks and costs of their actions off to the people they hate. That was on display when Martha’s Vineyard – a Democrat stronghold – immediately deported the illegal immigrants that Ron DeSantis bused over to them.

And that’s not unusual. Let’s take a look at a real sanctuary city, Denver, Colorado.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform lists them on their sanctuary cities page:

The City and County of Denver – the capital city of Colorado with a population of 727,000 – became an illegal alien sanctuary on the basis of an April 2014 Sheriff Department memo stating that Denver no longer honors immigration detainers. This was codified into law by a City Council ordinance from August 2017.

Also in 2017, the city stopped sending federal officials its daily booking sheets in order to limit immigration officials awareness of criminal alien activities.

And I found a story on it in the far-left Denver Post:

Denver’s new immigration measures aim to resist federal enforcement in several ways, but Denver Police Chief Robert White summarized them bluntly at a signing ceremony Thursday.

“We do not do the work of ICE,” he said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a comment that prompted wild applause inside Denver’s city hall from the immigrants, advocates and city officials who filled the room.

Minutes later, Mayor Michael Hancock sat down at a table and put his pen — actually 10 pens, in succession — to a new immigration ordinance, with City Council sponsors Paul López and Robin Kniech at his side. He then signed a companion executive order, which directs city agencies to coordinate on additional help for immigrants living in the country illegally and set up a donation-based legal defense fund for people facing deportation proceedings.

Wild applause! Wow! It sounds like all the people in Denver are really proud of their police and government. This is what they voted for, so they are sure to be thrilled with the results. Right?

Well… not so much.

Here’s an article from the New York Post, dated January 30, 2024:

Colorado’s capital has joined the evergrowing list of cities that have become overwhelmed by the influx of migrants — with over 38,000 asylum seekers arriving in Denver in the past year.

How could this happen? As long as the people enacting the policy are virtuous, then how could there ever be any bad consequences? THEIR SUPERIOR VIRTUE MAKES IT WORK OUT. Or does it?

Whenever you bring in a huge number of unskilled immigrants – many of whom don’t speak the language – you end up causing shortages of products and services. The most obvious shortages appear in housing, health care, education and policing.

The article notes:

Dr. Steven Federico, a pediatrician and chief of government and community affairs at Denver Health, told the outlet that hospitals like his have become a “safety net” for the city.

[…]Federico says hospital officials have begged state and federal officials for help covering $10 million in unpaid medical bills from migrants.

What do leftists do when the bill comes due for their “don’t judge” compassion? Why, they pass the bill to other people. People who never approved of their “don’t judge” compassion in the first place. People who warned them about the costs of their “don’t judge” compassion. The grown-ups always get the bill for the children.

Not just health care – education, too:

Denver Public Schools has seen an additional 3,000 students enter the system since July, putting a strain on their budget as funding gets set based on the district’s population the previous October, according to Adrienne Endres, who oversees multilingual education for the district.

Why is housing so expensive? Why is health care so expensive? Why is education so expensive? Why is policing so expensive? These things become expensive when you import millions of unskilled immigrants who use more in services than they pay in taxes.

Let’s look at an article from Denver local news channel KUSA 9NEWS.

It says:

No part of the City of Denver will be spared from proposed budget cuts to help pay for the migrant crisis. Every office, from the police department to the animal shelter, is being asked to cut money. It could even impact the funding our elections department gets this year.

In a critical 2024 election year, the Denver Clerk and Recorder’s Office says Mayor Mike Johnston has asked to cut nearly a million dollars from the department that oversees elections. The money, they say, is needed to help pay for the migrant crisis.

Down the street at the police department, Denver Police Department (DPD) says they’re working on finding places to cut their budget. So is the Department of Public Safety, and the animal shelter, and the health department. Every agency in Denver has been told to find ways to cut its budget for the same reason.

[…]Last Friday, Johnston announced publicly the first two cuts. $5 million from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and Denver Parks and Recreation.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office says they’ve been asked to cut their 2024 budget by 5%. The Department of General Services says they’re looking to cut 15%. Even the Department of Human Services, which is leading the efforts to help migrants, has already diverted $15 million from other projects towards the crisis and is looking for ways to cut more money.

Even the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, which is responsible for everything from trash pickup to potholes, may soon have to cut funding.

So, I hope voters can learn from the mistakes of Democrat sanctuary cities. Contrast the jubilant tone, when the city government was crowing about their “don’t judge” compassion, with their anguish now that the bill has come due. But do you think they have learned anything from it, now that they have to beg and plead for money from other taxpayers? Of course not. The virtue signaling is like crack cocaine to them. Once people give up on the objective morality of Christianity, they become obsessed with signaling their virtue to their neighbors, since that’s all morality is to them. Compliance with the expectations of their neighbors. And they can’t stop doing it, because that’s how they deal with the guilt from their own sins, and the consequences of those sins. Sadly, they rarely pay the costs of their virtue signaling. They pass the bill to you.