Sheriffs ditch Gov., get tough on immigrants

Via Rebellion

Three defiant Bay State sheriffs hell-bent on tougher immigration enforcement have taken an end run around Gov. Deval Patrick, traveling to Washington, D.C., to hammer out their own version of the Secure Communities program in a stinging rejection of the administration’s stand on illegals.

“The governor is out of touch on this issue, and he really and truly does not represent the interest of the people of Massachusetts on this issue,” Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said. “We’re basically saying to the governor, ‘Look. You’re entitled to your position.’ But the governor doesn’t elect us. We represent the people of our counties who elect us to do our job — public safety.”

Hodgson, along with Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph D. McDonald Jr. and Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis, bartered their deal late last week in a series of meetings with federal officials in Washington. They emerged with a deal that would, among other things, train county corrections officers to run the recently collared through Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases

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