14:23

Brief

The Bulletin Board

NH congressional delegation introduces bill to require local input on ICE detention facilities

New Hampshire’s four congressional delegates — U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and Reps. Chris Pappas and Maggie Goodlander — are introducing legislation that would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to solicit feedback from area residents and receive written approval from local and state officials before it can build an immigrant detention facility.

The bill comes as plans to build one such immigrant detention center in Merrimack have rocked the state.

According to Department of Homeland Security documents released by Gov. Kelly Ayotte, the Trump administration plans to retrofit a warehouse on Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack into an ICE processing center where detained immigrants will be held for roughly three to seven days before being transferred to a larger detention center to await deportation. The roughly 324,000-square-foot facility is expected to hold 400 to 600 immigrants, according to the documents. The Merrimack facility would be one of 16 “processing sites” built across the country in addition to eight “mega-center(s).”

The federal government is working to create a nationwide ICE immigrant detention network to assist in President Donald Trump’s goal of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. In Merrimack, the plans have been met with intense protests and the Merrimack Town Council has already written a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem opposing the facility.

The “Respect for Local Communities Act” would, if signed into law, require federal officials seeking to build such a facility to receive permission from the state’s governor; the local mayor, county executive, or whoever is the top elected official of the municipality; and a majority of the city/town council. The bill would also require federal officials to inform the public of its plans and solicit feedback. In Merrimack, for example, the federal government would have to set up a public comment period where Merrimack residents could provide input on the project, then seek permission from Ayotte and local Merrimack officials before it could move forward with the detention center under this bill.

The legislation comes amid a partial government shutdown impacting DHS, the government agency that houses ICE. Following the ICE surge in Minneapolis that left at least two U.S. citizens — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — dead, Democrats in Congress demanded guardrails be placed on ICE to stem the agency’s increasingly aggressive behavior. When Republicans refused to join them, Democrats refused to renew funding for DHS. On Feb. 14, DHS’ funding lapsed (though this excludes funding appropriated to the agency in July’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act), causing a partial shutdown for the agency.

“Americans are justifiably concerned as DHS moves to open secretive facilities across the country to detain thousands of individuals at a time, with little transparency or regard for the communities they’re being located in,” Shaheen said in a statement. “I, along with the overwhelming majority of Americans, agree that we should have a secure border and a humane and rules-based immigration system — but that’s not what the Trump Administration has done, with stunning displays of violence and cruelty, including against U.S. citizens. At a time when so many Americans are struggling with high costs for things like health care and housing, the Trump Administration is instead spending $38 billion in taxpayer money to purchase and operate these facilities.”

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.