WBSM TV: Hodgson Starting Crowdfunding Campaign to Pay for Border Wall

As President Donald Trump has tried to find more creative ways to fund his massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson thinks he may have found the solution.

Trump has been floating different possibilities for funding the wall such as tying it to the military budget, or refusing to move forward on DACA unless the wall is part of the deal.

But Hodgson's idea is to take funding the wall out of the hands of Congress, and putting it directly into the hands of the people.

Hodgson said he got a phone call recently from a man who suggested he start a national crowdfunding campaign to allow people to donate directly to a fund that would pay for the border wall.

"The more I thought about it, the more I thought, 'what a great idea,'" Hodgson said. "There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people, including sheriffs, who want to donate, because they're saying, 'Look, if Congress is taking our money for everything else, and can't get anything done, we can get this done. We can be the ones that are going to end up protecting the people of our communities.'"

Hodgson said the National Sheriff's Association has started the framework for a page to handle the donations, and he said more details will come out soon.

He said he mentioned the crowdfunding campaign on another radio station Friday afternoon, and the host called him shortly afterward.

"He said, 'I've got to tell you, as soon as I hung up, my phones were lit up with people saying they wanted to donate. I want to give a $100, somebody offered $500, somebody offered $5,000,'" Hodgson said. "I've had people on Facebook sending me messages saying how can they donate, where can they donate?"

The sheriff said the crowdfunding campaign also allows people to feel as if they directly made a difference, when their elected leaders failed to deliver.

"It's an overt act that they're intentionally doing, because they do care about this country, they do care about security, not only for them, but for their children and their grandchildren," Hodgson said. "And the government ought to feel even more invested in this, but they don't."