Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is known as a no-nonsense, no-excuses administrator who isn't shy about tackling big problems head-on.
He has recently become outspoken about the influx of undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
"It's become really a crisis situation at this point," said Hodgson.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has admitted that since April, four planes transported undocumented immigrants to detention centers in Massachusetts - and while three flights have transported some back out, Sheriff Hodgson says his facility in North Dartmouth has housed about 160 undocumented immigrants.
"This is unprecedented in regards to the numbers coming in and the way that people are being shipped across the country," he said. "We're now becoming border states ourselves."
Hodgson is leading a delegation of sheriffs, including Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis, along with sheriffs from Illinois, Maryland and Arizona to Texas on Tuesday to meet with border sheriffs, ranchers and ICE officials to brainstorm the best way to tackle this issue.
"We'll rally our people to do what we have to do to make sure that our communities are safe, but the sheriffs across this country are getting fed up with the idea that the federal government just refuses to secure these borders," said Hodgson.
Hodgson says the sheriffs be calling on Congress and the White House to take action to hold these undocumented immigrants' native countries responsible.
"Secure the borders, and we'll work on the other reforms afterwards, but until you secure the borders, nothing matters," he said.
Hodgson is leaving Tuesday and returning late Friday night. He says his goals are simple - learn more about the immigration issue at the Texas border first-hand, and share with officials down there how he and other sheriffs are handling the detainees being sent up north.
Hodgson says he thinks some of those reforms should include establishing processing locations within foreign countries' embassies so immigrants apply for asylum or refugee status prior to entering the U.S. He also thinks the U.S. should take away aid to foreign countries whose citizens are flooding our borders.
