“Enough is enough!” is the message from Bristol County, Massachusetts Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson (R) who speaks on behalf of close to 400 sheriffs heading county-level law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Only recently have we begun to witness momentum of the political pendulum swinging back the other way. What other way? The right way, towards the principled parts of the US Constitution having to do with illegal immigration and leftists harboring fugitives from justice. We are ebbing away from Democrat-minded liberal policies of pseudo-protectionism and taking back the enclaves where aiding and abetting are the norm.
Sheriffs are sick and tired of the sanctuary city game of clones and the low-gear lag of Congress.
Sheriff Hodgson wrote Congress a letter attesting to disappointment with the legislative body and their lackluster performance in overriding the sanctuary city evolution (revolution), amplifying a concert of salient national security points.
The Letter
Candid and concise in his message to the United States Congress, Sheriff Hodgson sent the following letter to each and every “representative”:
“Congress must act to pass legislation to secure our borders through enforcing immigration laws, tightening border security, support the replacement and upgrades to current barriers and fencing and construction of barriers along the US and Mexico international boundary as requested by those areas where it is needed, suspending and/or monitoring the issuance of visas to any place where adequate vetting cannot occur, end criminal cooperation and shelter in cities, counties, and states, and have zero tolerance and increased repercussions for criminal aliens.
“I stand firm with my fellow Sheriffs throughout our nation to have our borders secured first, in full cooperation and support of our promise and mission to uphold and enforce our nation’s laws, and we expect nothing less from Congress.
“As elected Sheriffs, we have taken an oath to do everything in our power to keep our citizens and legal residents, our communities, and our nation safe. Year after year, we have been warning the Federal government about detrimental increases in transnational drug trafficking, gang violence, sex trafficking, murder, and other escalating incidents of crime by illegal aliens entering our country.
“Because Congress has failed to enact the necessary reforms, our citizens and legal residents face even greater dangers, our national security is more vulnerable, and our enforcement efforts have been seriously compromised.
“Sadly, today some state and local officials have been enacting policies and giving lawbreakers shelter from being rightfully prosecuted and removed from our communities. In fact, these same laws forbid law enforcement agencies from cooperating with one another, and go as far as forcing the release of dangerous criminals into our communities exposing our citizens and legal residents to be victimized once again.
“In a recent announcement a certain state has even stated that they will prosecute law-abiding, hardworking business owners if they cooperate with law enforcement to identify and remove lawbreakers from the community drives our justice system to a new low. We cannot have law-abiding citizens threatened with criminal prosecution for cooperating with the very people who they trust to protect them.
“The Sheriffs of this nation and all our law enforcement partners understand that the oath we took to uphold and enforce our laws is the guarantee that they can trust us to preserve their safety and protect their well-being.
“The failure of Congress to create legitimate and comprehensive immigration reform for more than 20 years has dramatically undermined our ability to keep our communities safe. This not only puts our law enforcement at serious risk for danger, but further puts them in an untenable situation of violating our oath and promise to enforce the law.
“Further delay and inaction on immigration reform will cost more innocent lives, more financial hardships, and an even greater decline in the public trust that is essential to the preservation of our Republic.
“Without border security and immigration reform, more Americans will continue to be victims of crime. Now is the time to act!”
Stars and Stripes
An official copy of the National Sheriffs’ Association letter contains signatures of 380 sheriffs from 40 states across America, including the entire 88-member body of the Buckeye State Sheriffs’ Association as well as the 77-member contingent of the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association.
The nature of such a letter is ironic in that it was drafted by one sheriff in a county having nothing to do with law enforcement in my and perhaps your neck of the woods yet his prose telegraph insights and qualified expectations of 468 sheriffs on behalf of all Americans. Paradoxically, Hodgson represents only Bristol County, MA residents but in this case sort of represents all citizens. Gotta love when an elected individual who knows the law demands it be enforced empirically without twist, bend or dilution.
Hopefully, Congress will heed law enforcement’s call, act promptly, and accordingly sever the practice of American citizens towing the line for those who illegally slipped through border cracks and have fed on the US teet for far too long. How delightful that California, in particular, is put on notice that throwing sand in patriots’ eyes will come with blowback.
We are already seeing the tectonic shifts in California’s misguided foundation. The initial section of the Fourteenth Amendment reads: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Rather difficult to misconstrue that paraphrase, but Cali seems to see it differently.
OpsLens Contributor Steve Pomper published a breath-of-fresh-air piece regarding Orange County law enforcement executives revolting against California’s “Sanctuary State Law” and how harboring illegal alien immigrants goes against the grain of government’s constitutionally codified responsibility. Preceding that article, Pomper wrote a piece pertaining to Rensselaer County, New York Sheriff Patrick Russo (R) defying NY Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) whose protection of illegal immigrants within New York borders is no secret whatsoever. In short, Sheriff Russo is cooperating with ICE agents and their mission to deport inmates in his county jail.
Despite political party affiliations, constitutionally elected or Governor-appointed sheriffs (and perhaps police chiefs who have a voice to lend) are fist-pumping the air stemming from growing impatience with the federal government failing to enforce immigration codes clearly outlined in the Constitution.
The sanctuary city status trend has bloomed long enough and, like a red tide, must be eradicated before it further bogs the American ecosystem. Kathryn Steinle’s family know this all too well.
As Sheriff Hodgson has been reiterating a lot lately, “The tide is turning.” And he seems to have the attention of the Trump administration as well as the rally cry of an increasing number of elected and non-elected folks spearheading efforts to preserve the country and pillar national security before more havoc ensues.
DC Meeting
Sheriff Hodgson traveled to Washington, DC recently to meet with President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet. While there, Sheriff Hodgson spoke with US Attorney General Jeff Sessions as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan. Discussion points were founded in border security, transnational drug cartels, MS-13 gang warfare (and their thrill of the kill pertaining to slaying cops), and the perpetuating nonsensical aspects stemming from sanctuary city governments.
Sheriff Hodgson summarized the outset of his time in DC, saying, “This administration is open to any kind of solutions that’d make the community safer. The president wants the laws enforced and he wants to make sure that the people of this country are protected.” It doesn’t need to be any more succinct, and spreading national sentiments is only validated by consistent and unconstrained actions.
Media Blitz
Getting their message of frustration out to the public as well as elected officials with seemingly sand-buried heads, the NSA represented by Sheriff Hodgson has been hitting the airwaves. Called “America’s sheriff” by Chris McCarthy of The Chris McCarthy Show during an interview via WBSM, Sheriff Hodgson dissected, analyzed, and explained the woes our nation continues to confront in terms of illegal immigration, the sanctuary cities who coddle illegal aliens, and the enormous costs to American taxpayers.
As mentioned earlier, Orange County officials are fed up with sanctuary city shenanigans and are standing ground. One may wonder how any local government is possibly going to overcome the travails of illegal immigrants being aided and abetted in the sole sanctuary state we know as California. But that is where the Constitution is crucial, and constitutionally elected law enforcement executives unafraid of left-leaning looneys take the torch and dethrone the facilitators of illegality. I, for one, am happy that fuse is lit.
It’s been said before and it bears repeating: lock them up! Mayors obstructing justice? Prosecute them all. City managers upholding sanctuary state law over Supremacy Clause stipulations. Join them in the same cell remanding the mayors in violation of federal codes.
Proverbial Cop’s Cop
Akin to former Maricopa County, Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, Sheriff Hodgson echoes and emulates much of the sentiment and program structure that “Sheriff Joe” implemented. For example, Sheriff Hodgson removed all TVs and weight-lifting equipment from each and every cell in his county jail, giving it all to law enforcement officers at their respective district stations as well as local Boys and Girls Clubs in the community.
Sheriff Hodgson’s bio page contains a litany of law enforcement experience and accolade-worthy feats and accomplishments in/for public safety: “It has always been the Sheriff’s belief that Public Safety First Responder Groups can best serve the community when working in a collaborative effort.” And that circles back to mutual understanding and empirical cooperation among anyone charged with enforcing constitutional tenets and codes.
As a well-versed and learned law enforcer, it comes as no surprise that the membership of the National Sheriffs Association contesting Congress’s failure to act is conveyed by Hodgson. The only remaining query is: Are Capitol Hill eyes/ears open?
Sheriff Hodgson and company wish to address once and for all the illegal immigrant swell and make defunct the sanctuary city concepts by popping the “protective bubble around them.” Are you in? Is the nation boiling over to where, come election time, officials comforting illegal aliens will be discomfited by voters’ choices ousting dead wood from office?
