By ZACH LAIRD, InDepthNH.org
A coalition of advocacy groups has gained support from people from 80% of the municipalities in New Hampshire for a petition to have 29 police agencies in the state exit a program run by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), where they perform immigration officer functions under the direction of ICE.
According to Larry Brown, the total number of signatures gathered from 187 cities and towns won’t be publicized to keep it from becoming a political tool. Brown said other groups involved in the coalition are organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) New Hampshire, the American Friends Service Committee and other state-wide organizations.
“In late Spring and early Summer people were so upset about what ICE is doing nationally — and certainly in New Hampshire — that a number of groups in the state in New Hampshire, religious groups and human rights groups, decided that we needed to let the Governor (Kelly Ayotte) know we’re not happy for being the pariah state — the only state where the Governor has invited ICE agents into our communities,” Brown said.
After multiple attempts, Ayotte did not respond for comment.
After the deadline to sign it ended on Sept. 30, the coalition sent it to Gov. Ayotte’s office, and asked for a meeting with her to discuss “why New Hampshire is different from all the other states, and the fact that we don’t want ICE in our communities abducting people, children, and even citizens.”
Brown said Ayotte’s office responded by saying she’s too busy to meet with them for the next two months.
Brown continued that people in New Hampshire are usually pretty focused on their own freedom and independence, and to have ICE agents come around “abducting people who are neighbors, like hardworking immigrants, was not something that we wanted.”
The letter to Ayotte reads: “Federal officials say ICE is targeting dangerous criminals. The record does not support that claim. ICE’s own data reveal that most of the people being surveilled, detained, and deported have no serious criminal history. Many are following the legal immigration procedures, waiting for their applications to be decided. Others have overstayed a visa, which is not a crime. Most immigrants work in our towns, pay taxes, send their children to school, and contribute to New Hampshire’s economy and civic life.”
It added: “No one wants dangerous criminals in our neighborhoods, whether they are citizens or immigrants, and local law enforcement officers already address this. But New Hampshire residents do not need heavily armed federal agents operating with little transparency and no accountability in our communities. We oppose 287(g) agreements that turn our local police into ICE accomplices.”
The full list of police departments participating in ICE-related activity is as follows: Auburn; Belknap County Sheriff’s Office; Brentwood; Candia; Carroll; Chester; Chichester; Colebrook; Danville; Epping; Gorham; Hillsboro; Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office; Kingston; Middleton; Milton; New Boston; New Durham; New Hampshire State Police Department; Newington; Ossipee; Pittsburg; Pittsfield; Rindge; Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office; South Hampton; Troy; Weare; and Whitefield.
All of them are signed on for the Task Force Model, which “enhances public safety and national security by allowing designated immigration officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as an active participant in an ICE-led task force, per ICE’s website.
As part of the Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) between ICE and the various departments, law enforcement personnel must complete training on “relevant administrative, legal, and operational issues tailored to the immigration enforcement functions to be performed as provided by ICE instructors, and thereafter pass examinations equivalent to those given to ICE officers.”
It also gives local law enforcement the power and authority “to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or remain in the United States,” and to “process for immigration violations those individuals who have been arrested for State or Federal criminal offenses.”
As well, the MOU also gives them the authority to “arrest without a warrant any alien entering or attempting to unlawfully enter the United States in the officer’s presence or view, or any alien in the United States, if the officer has reason to believe the alien to be arrested is in the United States in violation of law and is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.”
Back in March, the Town of Carroll received a wire transfer for $122,515 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a part of the police department’s involvement in ICE’s 287(g) program.
In a follow-up interview, Police Lt. Ian MacMillan said the funds have since been used to purchase vehicles for the department, update technology services and improve security equipment in cells. The funding was earmarked by the government for vehicles and equipment police departments use, rather than just for being part of the program.
MacMillan reiterated the way the program works related to salary is that ICE reimburses the department for time spent assisting immigration efforts, though it’s separate from the $122,515 funding. He said the only way he expects future money from ICE is more work is done in conjunction with the program.
Alix Olson — who retired in New Hampshire after working 30 years in law enforcement in a different state — started to get involved with anti-ICE activity and outreach efforts during the first Trump Administration.
“The main reason I got involved with the statewide petition and anti-ICE work in general is because I feel like local police, of which I was a part in a different state, don’t really have the need to work with ICE. They already — and my department did, too — work with federal agencies like the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations), Postal Inspectors; it’s pretty standard stuff.
“But we as local police have never been trained to work as federal agents. We’ve always kept our own autonomy as far as local policing goes, and it’s clear to me that ICE has no regard whatsoever for the value of any human lives. It doesn’t really value its partnership with local police, except for the fact that they can make it comfortable for them to accept a whole bunch of money (and) equipment ‘if they’ll just come on and work with us to beat up on immigrants,’” Olson said.
Olson continued that local police take an oath to serve and protect, tell the truth and follow the constitution of the state and the country, but she doesn’t see ICE doing any of that. She said ICE is a force that works with absolute impunity and immunity “thanks to the crook in the White House, and they are a reflection of how horrible he is.”
She cited data from the Deportation Data Project that states between 2025 and 2026 in New Hampshire, approximately 1.9% of all detainees and deportations by ICE had criminal backgrounds. She said the myth that ICE is out there rounding up hardened criminals is just that; a myth.