By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – As the Executive Council meets for the last time in 2025 and the House of Representatives convenes to take up 11 vetoes by Gov. Kelly Ayotte Wednesday, some citizens are planning to gather to call for state protection against ICE raids, which have become more prevalent in the Lakes Region and North Country in recent weeks.
On behalf of New Hampshire Sanctuary Communities, Maggie Fogarty and Megan Chapman sent out a press release urging residents to attend the gathering at 9:30 a.m. in advance of the 10 a.m. meeting of the Governor and Executive Council on the second floor of the State House in Concord on Wednesday.
It comes at the same time the 400-member House of Representatives will also be returning to their chamber. The plan is “to protest against worsening state collaboration with the cruel activities of Immigration & Customs Enforcement and call instead for protection of NH residents.”
There have been reports of recent ICE raids and workers taken into custody in towns in the Lakes and Mountains in recent weeks.
They are difficult to confirm because ICE contacts in Manchester, Boston and Washington do not respond to requests for information from InDepthNH.org.
The press release indicates there have been “visible arrests at locations like gas stations and raids on private homes – some assisted by local police operating under 287(g) agreements.”
In late February, Gov. Ayotte released a statement regarding New Hampshire law enforcement agencies cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through agreements under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act:
“It is critical for state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities and protect our citizens. Criminals who are in our country illegally and pose a danger should be apprehended and removed. I support and encourage New Hampshire law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE to enforce our laws and keep our communities safe.”
ICE lists the following 12 New Hampshire law enforcement agencies on its website as partners. More information about the partnerships can be obtained here: https://www.ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g
Sanctuary Communities
“Members of sanctuary communities from across New Hampshire are coming together in the state capital to raise urgent concerns about harmful local consequences to the attention of the Governor and Executive Council members during their last meeting of 2025,” according to the Sanctuary Communities’ news release.
Local businesses from Keene to Portsmouth to Concord – and most recently Littleton – have lost employees to raids.
“In Plymouth and the surrounding towns, many residents are deeply concerned by the recent
increase in ICE activity in our communities,” says Bridget Powers with Plymouth Area Sanctuary
Community. “Available evidence and local and national reporting indicate that the vast majority of individuals detained are not violent criminals, but rather people who work, raise families, and
contribute to the social and economic fabric of our towns. Disregard for basic civil liberties, and cruel and violent treatment by unidentified and masked agents, are alarming and unacceptable.”
Fogarty of the Seacoast Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition, said: “We are reclaiming the word ‘sanctuary’ because this is what our communities need, and it is what they are not seeing from state leadership.”