Sheriff clarifies responsibilities, limits of ICE program participation

LACONIA — Belknap County Commissioners heard from Sheriff Bill Wright Monday night, who told them members of his department are undergoing required training pursuant to a partnership program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

The Belknap County Sheriff’s Office, according to data from ICE, is the only Lakes Region police agency which has signed onto the program, which authorizes local law enforcement to perform limited immigration enforcement procedures. 

“As it related to the ICE 287 (g) program, which I know that you folks have entertained some conversation about, but I do want to let you know that the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office is involved and we are participating in the program,” Wright said. “It’s only full-time deputies and myself who have taken the training and are going to be part of this. We’re basically conducting the warrant services — that’s what our involvement is.”

The sheriff’s office has limited authority through the program, essentially for carrying out warrant service. 

“We’re not looking at going and shaking places out, we’re not here to take an investigative stance as it relates to people calling in, thinking that someone living next to them might be an illegal alien, that’s not what we’re doing,” Wright said. “If our personnel have contacted somebody during a motor vehicle stop, or during civil process service, and the person has an ICE warrant — also known as a detainer — then we can affect that arrest. We can let ICE know, and they can make the determination of where this person is going to be brought to.”

As far as Wright is aware, he told commissioners Monday, there’s two holding facilities statewide.

“Merrimack County, which we’re frequently there anyways, and Strafford County. I understand that Cheshire County is potentially on the list right now to be an approved facility. Other jails across the state have made their inquiries about doing that,” Wright said. “I am not anticipating that this is going to be a heavy lift for us, it’s more of a resource for local partners.”

Pointing to the City of Laconia as an example, Wright said if a Laconia police officer made a traffic stop and discovered an immigration detainer on a driver or passenger, that officer couldn’t legally handcuff the person and take them into custody.

“We’d rather them not and to actually call us, to have one of our deputies go down that’s ICE 287 (g) certified to go down and make that arrest, and transport that person to the appropriate location of ICE’s request,” Wright said. 

The choice to send county officers out after hours to do that sort of work rests on Wright’s shoulders. He told commissioners Monday he wouldn’t authorize it without federal reimbursement, and anything done under the program — so long as it’s a probable cause-related matter, essentially limited to warrant service — would be covered by ICE.

Wright also told commissioners Gov. Kelly Ayotte sent the sheriff’s office a letter thanking them for their participation. 

“After taking this 40-hour training, which was completely online, what I read and what I see in the mainstream media is completely opposite of what ICE is teaching us and what ICE is requiring of us,” Wright said. “Our process here is to process the arrest warrant, and transport them to the local facility of their request for holding — that’s it.”

According to ICE records, Belknap, Grafton, Hillsborough and Rockingham counties are participating in the program. Municipal agencies participating in the program include Candia, Colebrook, Gorham, Ossipee, Pittsburgh and Troy. The New Hampshire State Police are also participating. No other agencies are listed as pending, though Wright said he’s aware of a handful who may be considering their own participation.

There have’t been any encounters associated with the ICE partnership program in New Hampshire, between January and the end of April, according to ICE records.

District 2 Commissioner Glen Waring asked Wright what mechanism is used to reimburse the county for overtime associated with the program. Wright told Waring he isn’t approving overtime for it.

“Unless they’re willing to reimburse us for overtime, we’re not doing overtime. This is during normal business hours,” Wright said. “If there is a local contact, we just assist with that, just like we would with any other assist.”

“I just wanted to make sure we didn’t get ourselves into a budget issue,” Waring said.