September 28, 2011 – By Steven Dodrill – WATD 95.5 News
A battle is brewing over “Secure Communities”, a program designed to battle illegal immigration, after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says that sheriffs, like Plymouth County Sheriff Joe McDonald, are staging “a publicity stunt”.
The democratic governor’s comments came Tuesday on 96.9 WTKK’s series “Ask-The-Governor”, a day before a scheduled Wednesday press conference at the State House for several Massachusetts sheriffs to highlight and announce plans for what Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald calls efforts to “enhance public safety.”
McDonald said of Patrick’s comments: “This is an argument that is disingenuous in the extreme and absurd on its face–It’s patently absurd.”
Sheriff McDonald defends his efforts, and says even if the governor tries to block them, they intend to go around the governor to institute the program. He says if there is a headline being created here, it’s not of the sheriffs’ making.
“The headline is that the governor is not doing his [job] and forcing the sheriff’s to act on their own. And so, if there is anyone creating a headline here, it’s the governor,” according to McDonald who spoke by phone on Tuesday night.
