"Plans for a new immigrant detention facility in New Hampshire have sparked discord within Gov. Kelly Ayotte's administration, which culminated in a commissioner's resignation Monday. In December 2025, The Washington Post reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had plans to renovate industrial warehouses nationwide to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees. The plan includes at least seven large warehouses and 16 smaller processing sites."
"One of those processing sites is planned for Merrimack, N.H., the Post reported. Merrimack town officials appeared to have had no knowledge of the plan prior to the Post 's reporting. Merrimack Town Manager Paul Micali told New Hampshire Public Radio in late December that local officials were "just as surprised when reading the article." At the time, Micali was awaiting a response from Ayotte's office to see what the governor's administration knew."
""At this time, the Town Council has no knowledge of plans for an ICE Processing Center in Merrimack and continues attempts to validate whether a facility is in fact is [sic] being established in Merrimack," the council wrote in a Jan. 28 update. "The Town Manager reached out to both Federal and State officials and has been informed that they are also unaware. If we obtain any additional information, we will be making it public as soon as we receive it.""
State officials were aware of a planned ICE facility in New Hampshire by Jan. 12, according to state documents. Plans for a new immigrant detention facility created discord within the governor's administration and resulted in a commissioner's resignation. ICE planned to renovate industrial warehouses nationwide to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees, including several large warehouses and multiple smaller processing sites. One processing site was slated for Merrimack, N.H., where town officials said they had no prior knowledge and described being surprised. The Town Manager and Town Council sought information from federal and state officials but received limited or no details.
Read at Boston.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]