Rep. Cabral Calls for Fast Track of Bill to Block Sheriff’s Program

NEW BEDFORD - New Bedford State Representative Antonio Cabral is trying to fast-track a bill that could potentially block an initiative by Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

Representative Cabral tells WBSM News he wants the legislature to quickly pass his bill that would prohibit the use of state funds for partnerships with federal immigration agencies.

He says these partnerships being pushed onto states from the federal level should be in turn federally funded. "The state has already challenges to meet in other areas," says Cabral. "I think that if the federal government wants to ask for assistance for a particular agency in the state, they ought to cough up the money."

Passage of the bill could effect Sheriff Hodgson's entering into the 287G program, which gives some Bristol County Sheriff's Department personnel access to federal-level immigration data.