By C1 Staff
BRISTOL COUNTY, Mass. — A local sheriff has started a debate after he offered up his inmates to help President Donald Trump build a border wall between Mexico and the United States.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said Jan. 4 he “made an official offer” to Trump regarding inmate labor and building the wall, WickedLocal.com reported.
Lawmakers responded by proposing a bill requiring sheriffs to receive approval before sending anyone in their custody outside of the state.
Sen. Michael Barrett said the bill is an “effort to calm the waters” after Hodgson’s “outrageous” proposal.
The bill states the sheriff would provide the state with documents 90 days beforehand regarding “a detailed description of the purpose, mode and manner, physical and material conditions and constraints attendant to, and duration of, both the transport and the transport and the transport destination.”
Hodgson told the publication that the bill would interfere with current agreements about inmate transport across state lines.
“We’ve done more with less ever since I’ve been in office, so we don’t really need the oversight of a senator or someone else to tell us that we can’t help other communities and other states when they’re in times of need,” Hodgson said. “I really think he should take a look at the authorities that are afforded within the constitutional office of sheriff.”
Hodgson told the publication he has not recently spoken to Trump, but they “know of [the offer].”