The cool thing is that you can make basically any combination of parts into a router if you install Linux or BSD on it. Not terribly helpful for end user consumers that will get shafted by this, but at the end of the day it’s just a small computer.

Otherwise, smuggle some “foreign routers” in from Mexico or Canada like it’s the prohibition era?

I run iptables on Debian, on a cheap aliexpress minipc with dual NICs. Been using more or less the same config for about five years. It’s simple, boring, and works great.