Gov. Maura Healey and eight other governors took a shot at passing the hat in D.C. on Monday, asking for federal funding to help with the massive costs of housing new migrants in emergency shelters.

The nine Democrat governors representing over 100 million Americans wrote to President Biden and Congressional leaders urging them to “work together to solve what has become a humanitarian crisis.”

Correction: it was a humanitarian crisis long before the buses hit Massachusetts and other northern sites. Border states like Texas have dealt with overflowing shelters and overburdened support systems for years.

When leaders of these states complained and decried the porous border that allowed immigrants to cross in huge numbers, they were castigated for being cruel, draconian, and Republican. How dare they not welcome migrants with open arms and open wallets?

Now it’s our turn, as California, Illinois, Arizona, Colorado, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico and Massachusetts governors can attest.

Now it’s a problem.

But, as before, they aren’t blaming Biden, who reversed limits on immigration put in place by his predecessor, President Trump. According to the governors, global migration is at a “historic high,” driving sharp increases in new arrivals to cities and states that “lack the vast coordinated infrastructure needed to respond to the humanitarian and public safety concerns of those seeking lawful entry into the United States,” as State House News reported.

The border isn’t in crisis, migration is just historically high. Go figure.

The governors said a $106 billion supplemental funding request Biden proposed last year would offer “a minimum level of funding and actions” needed to address the issues. No surprise there – Massachusetts alone is spending some $45 million a month to house migrants and other homeless people. A $106 billion funding windfall just doesn’t go as far as it used to.

In her State of the Commonwealth speech last week, Healey said she would “continue to demand that Congress take action to fix the border, to get us funding.”  It turns out “fixing the border” means aligning with Biden’s request for money to A. stop the flow of fentanyl (excellent) and B. focus on legal pathways and work authorization for migrants. Biden does want more law enforcement for “expedited removals of unlawful crossings,” but restrictions and immigration caps are no where in sight.

Healey added Monday: “This is not a problem that Massachusetts created. However, it’s a problem that we’re having to deal with right now.”

She’s half right. Massachusetts and other blue states didn’t create the border crisis, but they have supported and continue to back Biden and his ineffectual border policies. Blue states were content to throw brickbats at Texas and others at the southern border for throwing in the towel and dispersing migrants to other states, instead of standing up to Biden and calling for substantive changes in our border policy.

Democratic governors may be late to the party in seeing the steady influx of migrants as a “humanitarian crisis” burdening their states, but voters are way ahead of them.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)