A Massachusetts sheriff Tuesday recommended that law enforcement officials take a hardline approach in dealing with the defiant leaders of sanctuary cities who intentionally help harbor illegal aliens. Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Illegal Immigration, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson called for those leaders to be arrested.
Hodgson told the committee that sanctuary cities “have become magnets for illegal aliens, some of which have violent criminal records.”
“If these sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal illegal aliens from ICE, which is in direct violation of Title 8 of the U.S. Code, federal arrest warrants should be issued for their elected officials,” Hodgson said. “Our citizens would be safer if we never stopped enforcing immigration law and if we never formed or turned a blind eye toward sanctuary cities.”
He also took aim at a Massachusetts legislator who passed along rumors of a planned ICE raid in Brockton on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Rep. Michelle DuBois, D-Brockton, warned her constituents in a Facebook post “if you are undocumented don’t go out on the street. If there is a knock on the door of your house and you don’t know who it is, don’t open the door.”
Hodgson called her actions “outrageous.”
“This is the most outrageous, outrageous example of what is going on across the United States that is undermining my job and every other law enforcement officer in the United States,” he said.
ICE said it does not release information regarding future operations and does not conduct random sweeps, checkpoints or raids.
“Any person who actively incites panic or fear of law enforcement is doing a disservice to the community, endangering public safety and the very people they claim to support and represent,” ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said.
Sheriff Hodgson said there is no bigger threat to public safety than illegal immigration. He said his correctional officers have become de facto ICE agents and are able to perform all immigration-related actions.
“We cannot say that elected officials — who have taken the same oath that we have — can decide which laws they’re going to follow, or not. They should be held to the same standard of accountability that we are,” Hodgson said. “In those instances where they are intentionally harboring and concealing people they know to be in the country illegally, there should be federal arrest warrants issued for them,” the sheriff said. “No if, ands or buts.”
On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that sanctuary cities like Boston will risk losing federal money if they continue to thwart immigration laws.
Democrat mayors fired back at the Trump administration on Tuesday:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio downplayed the significance of Sessions’ message and said in his weekly television segment Sessions was more “saber-rattling.”
“If they actually act to take away our money, we’ll see them in court,” vowed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said taking federal funding from the city would be “unconstitutional.”
“We will fight to protect the safety and dignity of all Angelenos,” Garcetti said. “We will work closely with our representatives in Congress to make sure that Los Angeles does not go without federal resources that help protect millions of people every day.”
Mayor Ed Murray of Seattle tweeted: “As Sessions threatens to pull DOJ grants from Welcoming Cities, we stand resolute. Trump’s immigration policy is based in bigotry not safety.”
If Sheriff Hodgson gets his way, these virtue-signaling mayors could end up in the clink for their “welcoming” stance toward illegal immigrants.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member