Several senior ranking House Democrats threw their weight behind a proposal on Thursday to prohibit inmates from being used to build President Donald Trump’s border wall as part of their efforts to provide a check on the White House’s impact in Massachusetts.
The working group created by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to guide the House’s response to the Trump administration also voted to recommend a bill that would essentially block state law enforcement from participating in a federal program to train local officers as immigration enforcement agents.
The Trump working group met for the first time Thursday, hosting a free-form discussion about the group’s focus and how it can have an impact.
“One of the things that came up and we thought was really worthy of discussion was Rep. Cabral’s efforts to rein in some of the outspoken volunteerism of a gentleman in his area who is making a lot of headlines,” said House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano, who is leading the group with Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad.
Mariano was referring to Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who has proposed using inmates under his control as volunteer labor to help build Trump’s promised wall along the Mexican border.
The meeting took place as a group of senators are preparing to travel to Washington the week of April 24 to meet with members of Congress and the Trump administration to get a better handle on the probability and scope of proposed federal spending cuts.
Democrats have been deeply concerned by the potential local impact of spending cuts outlined in a budget blueprint released this year by the Trump administration that Rep. James Arciero noted would sharply pare back dollars that flow through the National Institutes of Health to Bay State hospitals and research facilities.
“If that happens and the block grant stuff does come down I think we all go look for jobs in gas stations. I’m going to work in a bakery,” Mariano said.
The Quincy Democrat conceded he felt like he was “swimming with a rudder” as he worked with his co-chair Haddad to chart a course for the group, but left the meeting feeling better about the direction it would take.
In addition to Mariano, Haddad, Cabral and Arciero, Reps. Byron Rushing, James Murphy, Kate Hogan, and Jeff Sanchez all attended Thursday’s meeting.