Bristol County Sheriff criticizes talks of sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants
By Kirsten Glavin
@kirstenglavin
NORTH DARTMOUTH, MA – The law is the law, according to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson who continues to argue that undocumented immigrants do not have a place in the United States.
"These people would not be concerned or worried if they were doing the right thing,” Sheriff Hodgson said.
Deportation fears have steadily increased in the immigrant community after President-Elect, Donald Trump threatened to deport 3 million illegal’s within his first 100 days in office.
The Sheriff told ABC6 News that he’s shocked to learn Boston is the latest fighting back, now in talks of becoming a sanctuary city where police cannot ask about, or share a person’s immigration status.
"There are people coming in who want to do harm to us,” he said. He believes that creating "hot spots" of illegal immigrants will cause an uptick in violence, terrorism and will hurt the economy.
"We have to be very concerned of the idea that terrorists are going to come to a place like Providence, or Boston or other parts of Massachusetts that are sanctuary cities,” he said, “Because they can lay low and take the time they need to plot a catastrophic event."
Boston isn’t alone. Providence vowed Sunday to become a safe haven for people in the country illegally. Mayor Jorge Elorza called it the "One Providence" initiative.
"It is important that every resident can live their lives without fear of being persecuted. And that includes our entire immigrant community,” the Mayor said.
However, Sheriff Hodgson fired back at the comments, saying politicians like Mayor Elorza are violating the law by trying to protect illegal immigrants.
"People are using their political agenda, instead of taking care of the people’s agenda. Those are the people who are doing it, and they’re doing it in violation of the oath that they took."
