Tough-talking sheriff says lock up sanctuary city officials
Outspoken Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson told Congress that leaders of sanctuary cities should be arrested — a threat mayors from some of those Bay State communities brushed off as political bluster.
“I accept the sheriff’s ignorance with grace,” said Somerville mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. “Rather than worrying about locking up mayors, maybe Sheriff Hodgson should come to Somerville and learn about real crime prevention. We’re not going to waver. We’re going to remain a sanctuary city.”
Hodgson told the House Subcommittee on Illegal Immigration that those in charge of sanctuary cities should be locked up for violating federal law.
“If these sanctuary cities are going to harbor and conceal criminal illegal aliens from ICE … 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.”
E. Denise Simmons, mayor of Cambridge, told the Herald she spoke to a city attorney after Hodgson made his statement. She stood with Curtatone in saying that her city would not shed its sanctuary status.
“This does not change my stance personally or the city’s opinion on sanctuary cities,” she said. “I think what the Bristol County sheriff is saying is a bit of a reach. It’s unfortunate. I think there are much more important things to be talking about instead of locking people up.”
Hodgson last night told the Herald he and other sheriffs are set to meet with Attorney General Jeff Sessions today and that he will reiterate his comments to the nation’s top cop.
“I think most people feel that elected officials should be held accountable. Private citizens are held accountable for breaking the law, so why shouldn’t they?” he said. “If they don’t like a law, go lobby and change it. You can’t just defy federal law.”