Hodgson Says Sanctuary Cities Are A Dangerous Practice

Following President Elect Donald Trump's electoral victory last week the leaders of many cities across the country are saying that they will become "sanctuary cities."

That means they will not go after illegal immigrants living in their jurisdiction and often don't pass on information to federal authorities.

Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told WBSM's Brian Thomas that the purpose of these operations isn't to harass immigrants but to find people who pose a threat to the public.

"We're not talking about going up to everybody and saying 'are you legal or are you not legal'," said Hodgson "if a police officer stops somebody and they run their name through the NCIC or whatever and they found they're not a legal resident well at that point the officer ought to be able to run that name through, not only the FBI database, but the database for ICE."

Hodgson says sanctuary cities put citizens at risk by not giving federal authorities information that could detect potentially dangerous individuals.

"All we need to do is start sharing resources with one another again like we used to, work in collaboration, act on these warrants that we have, and use the intelligence that local law enforcement has for criminal elements that are illegal here and go after them," said Hodgson.

During the campaign, Trump promised to "end the sanctuary cities" and said those "that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars."