By NANCY WEST, InDepthNH.org
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that President Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE have engaged with governors across the country, including Gov. Kelly Ayotte, about the need for more immigrant detention warehouses, including the one planned for Merrimack.
Ayotte then released a statement acknowledging for the first time that her office has, in fact, been in contact with the White House and Department of Homeland Security “for weeks” about the unpopular plan for Merrimack. The detention facilities are intended to speed up deportations.
Until an emergency meeting of the Governor and Executive Council on Feb. 4, Ayotte insisted she had not heard from federal officials any information on the Merrimack detention plan even though she had reached out to the White House trying to find out.
Ayotte said then that she learned about the plan the day before when ACLU-NH released information Feb. 3 that it obtained showing a state agency under the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources had been contacted by DHS about the Merrimack facility weeks earlier. Ayotte forced the department’s Commissioner Sarah Stewart to resign for failing to make sure Ayotte knew the state had been contacted.
Leavitt, who is from New Hampshire, said at Wednesday’s briefing: “So the president and Secretary Noem and, I know ICE are engaged with local governors across the whole country, including in New Hampshire to open more detention facilities.” Ayotte didn’t respond to questions from InDepthNH.org.
But WMUR reported Wednesday after Leavitt’s briefing that Ayotte provided a statement saying:
“Our office has been in communication for weeks with officials at the White House and DHS about this facility to urge that they coordinate with the town of Merrimack. And take local input into consideration when siting a facility like this in Merrimack.”
It was the second time in a week that Ayotte scrambled to explain via press release what she knew from top federal officials about the Merrimack detention plan.
And coincidentally it was the same day former Democratic Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington launched her campaign for governor.
About Ayotte’s latest statement, Warmington said: “It’s still not clear if this is just another instance of Kelly Ayotte’s total incompetence, or if she’s intentionally hiding something.
“Granite Staters are tired of her non-answer, and they deserve to hear whether or not their governor supports Donald Trump’s ICE human warehouse in Merrimack,” Warmington told InDepthNH.org Wednesday night.
In her announcement for governor, Warmington spoke about skyrocketing costs for Granite Staters, “property taxes are through the roof,” and promised to repeal school vouchers. She also promised to “stand up to Donald Trump” and said, “I’ll say no to ICE’s warehouse.”
Last Thursday, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, was questioning Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE about the Merrimack immigrant detention plan at a Senate hearing.
Lyons testified that DHS officials spoke with Ayotte about it before she publicly acknowledged knowing about the plan, which she immediately denied in a news release.
Lyons said: “Actually DHS has worked with Gov. Ayotte, has spoken to the governor about economic impact. We did provide an economic impact summary…”
Hassan asked Lyons: “When exactly did you speak with Gov. Ayotte because until recently she said she didn’t know anything about it.”
Lyons said: “DHS officials, ma’am, spoke with her in the past weeks,” adding he would get more specific information about exactly when that occurred.
Ayotte said in a news release shortly after Lyons testified last Thursday that it wasn’t true.
“This is simply not true,” Ayotte said in that news release. “Director Lyons’ comments today are another example of the troubling pattern of issues with this process. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security continue to provide zero details of their plans for Merrimack, never mind providing any reports or surveys.”
Ayotte issued another release Thursday night saying the Department of Homeland Security had provided documents about the proposed Merrimack immigrant detention.
“After my office inquired about the economic impact study following today’s Senate hearing, DHS has now for the first time distributed the document. Once the document was received, we immediately shared it with the Town of Merrimack. We are publishing this document on my website for the public to find,” Ayotte said.
DHS: ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative
DHS: Merrimack, NH Processing Site —Economic Impact Analysis
The economic impact analysis provided to Ayotte talked about the impact to Oklahoma’s economy, raising questions about whether it was done for New Hampshire.
“Including all ripple effects to the Oklahoma economy, this facility will support a total of 1,252 jobs during retrofit and up to 265 jobs each year of operation,” the DHS economic impact analysis for the Merrimack detention center said.
What Ayotte knew and when she knew about the secretive plan to house from 500 to 1,500 immigrants for deportation at the vacant warehouse at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack, has been controversial since it was first publicly mentioned in a Washington Post story late last December.
DHS still hasn’t officially confirmed the plan with Merrimack officials, according to Town Manager Paul Micali.
Rep. Wendy Thomas, D-Merrimack, called the latest revelation, “More and More Contradiction.”
Thomas said in an op-ed that “The public deserves consistency, honesty, and leadership from its governor, especially when a major federal detention proposal is poised to reshape a community. Instead, what New Hampshire is getting from Kelly Ayotte on the proposed ICE detention facility in Merrimack looks less like leadership and more like contradiction.
“On February 12, the governor publicly asserted that testimony from Director Lyons, who said the Department of Homeland Security had been in contact with her office, was simply not true. That was a clear, unequivocal claim. Either federal officials were communicating with the governor’s office, or they were not.
“Now, according to reporting by WMUR, the governor says she has in fact been in discussions for several weeks. Which is it?” Thomas asked.