Ayotte said she asked White House about ICE facility in Merrimack, but ‘did not get an answer’

Demonstrators gather outside Merrimack Town Hall Thursday, Jan. 8, for a protest of reported plans to put an ICE facility in Merrimack. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)

Gov. Kelly Ayotte, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said her team asked the White House and the Department of Homeland Security about reports that an immigration detention center is planned for Merrimack. Ayotte said there was no confirmation that the federal government plans to open a facility there, but ultimately she “did not get an answer to my question.”

“But I made quite clear, both to the Department of Homeland Security as well as to the White House,” Ayotte said, “that I thought it was critical that there be full information provided to Merrimack and that local officials be given the opportunity (to be) consulted and to weigh in, and that that local voice was very, very important before that facility went there, because of the impact you can imagine on emergency services and traffic in the area, all the things that you can imagine that locals should weigh in on.”

In late December, The Washington Post, citing leaked DHS documents, reported that Merrimack is one of 23 sites across the United States where the Trump administration plans to build a new immigrant detention facility to assist with its aggressive deportation campaign. The plan reportedly involves building a network of detention centers of smaller feeder facilities — like the one reportedly planned in Merrimack — where immigrants awaiting deportation will be held before being transferred to one of several larger facilities.

The reports have sparked outrage and confusion in Merrimack. Protests have taken place in Merrimack and Concord where demonstrators decried the plans, as well as the administration’s broader deportation agenda, as cruel and unjust. The Merrimack Town Council sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem opposing the facility on the grounds that it would reduce the town’s tax revenue because the federal government is exempt from local property taxes and that it would cause unrest.

Ayotte said the state doesn’t have any levers to stop the federal government from placing a facility in Merrimack beyond her administration’s communicating with federal officials.

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Minneapolis shooting

Ayotte also reacted to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen protesting federal agents in Minneapolis, by federal immigration officers Saturday. 

“Any loss of life is tragic, and I think we can all agree on that,” she said. “It’s my hope that there will be a thorough investigation conducted and that there will be transparency around the results of that investigation. That’s what we would do if there was an officer-involved shooting in New Hampshire.”

She emphasized the need for an investigation.

“People seem to be wanting to make conclusions from the sidelines,” Ayotte said. “From my perspective, whatever your view of it, it’s very important that we get all the facts and circumstances. That’s what an investigation is for. And so I hope that that is conducted.”

The death was captured on multiple videos that have circulated on social media and in news reports.