Bristol County Sheriff stands firm on federal immigration enforcement proposals

By Alana Cerrone

acerrone@abc6.com

@Alana_Cerrone

One month after making waves with his announcement on sending inmates to help build President Trump’s promised wall, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is not backing down on his proposed initiatives on federal immigration law enforcement.

"We’re trying to get people on the trajectory not to come back to jail – we’ve already had inmates asking our staff ‘can we sign up, can we volunteer, can we go?’.”

But Representative Antonio Cabral of New Bedford says no. He’s even filed a bill to stop it. He says prison work programs should benefit their own communities.

Sheriff Hodgson isn’t sold on his case.

"He’s been in longer than I’ve been in office I’ve been here 20 years and he’s never asked me to use inmates for any projects that would help the constituents in his district or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Rep. Cabral also expressed concerns about the logistics of the program, including funding, but Sheriff Hodgson says it’s not a huge undertaking.

"The simplest part of this is the inmates are gonna do this for free."

The Bristol County Sheriff’s Department is also one of 38 law enforcement agencies nationwide signed up for the 287(g) program, which allows them to partner with ICE and enforce federal immigration laws.

Another bill filed by Rep. Cabral says only at the expense of the federal government, and not on state dollars.

"Filing a bill like this and preventing it would undermine the safety of our community and our neighboring communities as well. The great thing about America always is that our strength is when we come together and use whatever resources we have to help another community out."

Sheriff Hodgson says he will definitely be fighting Representative Cabral’s bills on Beacon Hill.

© WLNE-TV 2017