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...
Secure Communities... requires police to run criminal suspects’ fingerprints through an immigration database to check whether they are in the United States legally, and it requires local agencies to share data on those suspects with immigration authorities.A fourth sheriff is also joining the effort according to the Herald.