Marty Walsh debated sanctuary cities with the outspoken Bristol County sheriff on live radio
The one thing they agreed on? It's Congress's fault.
, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson called for elected officials in so-called sanctuary cities to be arrested.
On Wednesday, Hodgson unexpectedly found himself on live radio with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh — who is very much the elected official of a sanctuary city.
The Bristol County sheriff was finishing a call-in interview Wednesday morning on Boston Herald Radio just as Walsh arrived for a scheduled monthly appearance. Hosts Jaclyn Cashman and Hillary Cabot swore it wasn’t a set up.
“This is what we want? A debate?” Walsh asked. “The sheriff versus the mayor?”
The eight-minute exchange (which begins around the 13:30-minute mark below) did produce one area of agreement: Blame Congress.
https://soundcloud.com/bostonherald/bristol-county-sheriff-tom-hodgson-and-boston-mayor-marty-walsh#t=13:29
Hodgson reiterated his belief that leaders of sanctuary cities — a broad, unofficial term for jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal deportation efforts — were breaking federal law and “should be held accountable.” In response, Walsh refuted the assertion that Boston was breaking the law and called the Trump administration’s threats to defund sanctuary cities “a bully tactic.”
“I think you probably would agree on this, they should be working on reforming the immigration policies in America,” Walsh said, calling for pathways for citizenship of undocumented immigrants.
According to the mayor, even he and Hodgson would be able to find common ground on immigration reform. Walsh said the current Congress had not sufficiently focused on advancing legislation on the issue.
But the mayor stood by his support of Boston’s sanctuary status, noting the city has recorded a downward trend in crime over the recent years.
“By painting every undocumented immigrant as a criminal is just wrong,” he said.
Hodgson said he couldn’t agree more with Walsh’s calls for immigration reform.
“It’s Congress that’s the problem on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “They’ve used it as a political football and left all the people in the local communities to fight it out.”
But Hodgson said “legitimate” immigration reform couldn’t happen without first securing the country’s borders. Walsh said he thought both could happen at the same time.
In 2013, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill that included provisions to add a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and increased border security. However, the legislation was never taken up in the House amid opposition from conservative Republicans.
During the interview, Walsh also asked Hodgson to ask the Trump administration to reconsider proposed budget cuts that would affect local social services.
Whether or not Walsh and Hodgson ever actually come together to advance their shared interests, the Boston mayor’s approach to the sheriff on Wednesday was certainly less confrontational than that of his peer in Somerville.
