Democratic lawmakers in Massachusetts need to stay in their lane and drop nakedly partisan investigations of an ICE detainee disturbance at a facility under the aegis of Republican Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.
On TV, sleuths have a variety of day jobs — from bakers to bookstore owners — yet still somehow have the skills to suss out who did what and why.
Reality is very different, which is why Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is understandably pushing back against lawmakers who’ve said they will probe an incident involving ICE detainees last week at a North Dartmouth lockup.
The Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee plans to investigate the altercation between ICE detainees and staff that left three detainees hospitalized and caused an alleged $25,000 in damage, stemming from their alleged refusal to be tested for COVID-19, Hodgson told the Herald last week.
Senate President Karen Spilka and Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chair Sen. John Keenan, of Quincy, said their chamber is “extremely concerned” about the incident in a joint statement.
They aren’t the only lawmakers sounding alarms over the ICE incident. Four members of the state’s congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Reps. William Keating and Joseph Kennedy — said the detainees reported that they were “handled violently, unnecessarily pepper-sprayed, and denied access to counsel.”
They called for an outside investigation. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley released her own statement calling for a probe of the incident.
Spilka, Kennedy, Keenan, Warren, Markey, Keating and Pressley have all expressed opposition to President Trump’s actions on immigration. Some have espoused voting rights for illegal immigrants, and decried stings by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Others called for the abolition of ICE.
Impartial observers? Hardly.
Their agenda is well known. Little wonder that Hodgson said he would trust an upcoming probe from ICE’s Inspector General over senators who have “political agendas.”
“They don’t understand how prisons work,” Hodgson said. “They’re trying to gain some political advantage, pushing it through their political filter. We need real investigators.”
Real investigators, who would do their job with the skill set it demands and examine the facts, as opposed to legislators who have made no secret of their contempt for current policies that consider illegal immigration as illegal, and which incarcerates those who break the law.
Gov. Charlie Baker sounded a cautionary note about judging the North Dartmouth incident too soon.
“What I would say is, there is a whole series of back-and-forths going on with respect to what happened there and people need to be careful about drawing conclusions one way or another,” Baker said.
The governor did, however, speak of resistance to coronavirus testing, at the heart of the lockup disturbance. Baker said his administration has faced situations and “a number of nursing homes” where individuals who officials would have expected to want COVID-19 tests rejected the practice.
In an election year when the Democratic clarion call is to get the president out of the White House as soon as possible, the incident in North Dartmouth provides a tempting opportunity for Trump bashing and heaping yet more scorn on ICE officers.
Resist the temptation. Leave investigating to the investigators.
