The Bristol County Sheriffs Department is a human rights horror show. The suicide rate at the jail is the highest in the state. Prisoners receive substandard food and, recently, a riot occurred after prisoners had been demanding cleaning and safety equipment to protect themselves from COVID-19. If this were not enough, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson has numerous links to White Supremacist and milita groups, and he spends most of his time lobbying for Trump’s anti-immigrant policies in conjunction with a group set up by White Supremacist John Tanton.
While the Bristol County Sheriff is an elected position and funding for the Sheriff is largely a matter for the state Legislature, Federal dollars are spent on ICE 287(g) and Intergovernmental Service agreements.
Unidad Latina en Accion is calling for Congress to enact a domestic version of the Leahy Amendment, which denies funding to human rights abusers.
“We call on members of the U.S. House and Senate to stand with the thousands of individuals who are detained, harassed, discriminated, and terrorized by Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, by ICE, and by hate groups, and to shut off all federal funds and programs that enable these officials to endanger people’s health and safety. There is no reason that US federal dollars can continue to assist Sheriff Hodgson advancing an agenda that has no public interest, advances a nativist agenda, and puts lives at risk.”
The NAACP New Bedford Branch supports our brothers and sisters at Unidad Latina en Accion and has signed its call for action.
