On Wednesday, New Hampshire’s all-Democrat Congressional delegation sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security asking Secretary Kristi Noem to “swiftly acknowledge and respond to concerns expressed by the Merrimack Town Council regarding reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to establish a new processing center in the town.”
The Merrimack Town Council is opposed to such a facility. Leaked documents show it would be at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack as part of the Trump administration’s plan to speed up deportations by opening 46 warehouse holding centers across the country.
But there has been no official confirmation from federal officials in the month since the Washington Post first reported the plan.
“Despite repeated outreach from the New Hampshire Congressional Delegation and the Town of Merrimack, DHS has yet to confirm or deny whether reports of ICE plans to establish a processing center in the town are true, or answer questions posed by the town, delegation, and residents of Merrimack,” according to a delegation news release Wednesday.
Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), joined by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (NH-02), pushed the Department to communicate clearly with the town regarding the proposed Merrimack processing center.
The full letter is available here
On Wednesday night in Goffstown about 150 people gathered at the Goffstown Common to remember Alex Pretti, Renee Good who died at the hands of ICE agents in Minneapolis, and all people killed or harmed by ICE, according to Rev. Jason Wells, Rector of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Goffstown.
“We gather in a vigil to remember the names and lives of those who died by ICE violence.
“The act of remembrance is an act of resistance, that we do not forget the violence, the abuses of authority those in power would like us to not pay attention to and move on,” Wells said.
Rep. Rosemarie Rung, D-Merrimack, who has been actively opposed to the warehouse proposal, said: “Not only has Noem’s incompetence failed large cities like Minneapolis, but the complete lack of communication and cooperation with towns like Merrimack about proposed ICE facilities is unacceptable. Americans throughout the U.S. deserve much better.”
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte told reporters Wednesday that she made clear to DHS and the White House that there should be “full information provided to Merrimack,” according to a New Hampshire Public Radio report.
Pressure has mounted against the ICE actions in the wake of the Minneapolis fatal shootings. According to The Guardian newspaper, the “two agents who fatally shot a man in Minneapolis over the weekend have been on administrative leave since Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Wednesday, as Donald Trump tried to quell the backlash even while immigration raids in the city continued.”
“The move, which the DHS emphasized is standard protocol when agents are involved in fatal shootings, comes as the president suggested he would ‘de-escalate’ his immigration enforcement crackdown in the state, but without offering details or whether tactics would change,” the Guardian reported.