Sheriff slams Warren, Pressley
Says characterization of conditions ‘shameful’
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson is slamming each member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation for what he says are “unsubstantiated” claims that jail officials are not testing for the coronavirus — especially when it comes to illegal immigrants.
The push-back comes as Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials told the Herald Monday agents are focusing on criminal illegal immigrants, with recent arrests for aggravated assault, drug trafficking and identity fraud.
“The most troubling part of your unsubstantiated argument is the insulting and outrageous suggestion that officials at the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and ICE would intentionally not test for COVID-19 to avoid turning up positive results,” Hodgson wrote to each member of the Bay State delegation.
“Such a suggestion is shameful and unbecoming of a member of the United States Congress,” Hodgson said.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley have been pushing to let inmates out of jail as the pandemic spreads.
In a recent tweet Warren wrote: “Our jails and prisons are overcrowded and lack basic hygiene options and health care. It’s not only inhumane — it makes coronavirus outbreaks inevitable. And as staff cycle through, it will spread. States must act to reduce jail and prison populations.”
Pressley also tweeted late last week that the state Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to take prisoner releases, and those held on bail, on a case-by-case basis was “a step towards allowing our most vulnerable to safely return home and avoid exposure to the virus.”
Both have signed on to a letter calling for a reduction of the number of people held in county jails — including in Bristol County — awaiting immigration court hearings while the pandemic is spreading. Alternatives to incarceration should be used, the letter states.
Hodgson said in his own letter to the delegation that citing “detainee claims of ‘alarming’ conditions at the Bristol County ICE detention facility as part of your justification for release is nothing short of absurd and irresponsible.”
He accused detainees of “promoting a misinformation campaign” to get out of jail. He said he will work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health officials to “work through” the pandemic until it’s safe to go about regular business.