Residents tell Carroll County commissioners to leave ICE alone

CONWAY — County commissioners on Monday heard from a crowd of people who said they don’t want the sheriff or jail to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Several expressed concerns they would be “disappeared” for political reasons.

A program under the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration laws is called 287(g), which is the section in the act that outlines the program.

The 287 (g) program allows participating police agencies to have limited immigration enforcement during traffic stops and allows jails to identify and process undocumented immigrants.

The Ossipee Police Department is participating. State Police announced on Wednesday that they are also participating. According to ICE, 230 other agencies in 24 states have signed similar agreements.

On Monday, Bobbi Boudman of Wolfeboro was on the agenda to discuss 287(g) and to discourage the county jail and sheriff from signing up for the program. The meeting drew about 40 residents, and the vast majority of attendees who spoke agreed with Boudman.

Dallas Emery of Ossipee was the voice of opposition to the crowd.

One reason why Boudman said she opposes 287(g) is due to fears that President Donald Trump will use it to target and deport U.S. citizens for political reasons.

Boudman said 287(g) was started under the Clinton administration and then halted in 2012 because it led to problems such as racial profiling. Now, Trump is starting it up again. She said she is afraid of being targeted.

“I’m a ‘homegrown;’ I’m an example of what would happen if we start honoring these 287(g) programs,” said Boudman, adding she led a “peaceful protest” against Trump when he came to Wolfeboro last fall. “After the president came by, the police force was sent after me. The Secret Service enacted my police to come out after me without it ever going through dispatch. It was highly problematic.”

She wondered if she would be “disappeared” if she held a protest while Trump is president.

Chuck McGee (R-Wolfeboro), chair of the commissioners’ board, said it would be up to Carroll County Sheriff Domenic Richardi  as to whether the county participates. Richardi attended part of the meeting but did not speak.

Jail Superintendent Brian King said he is looking at the possibility of housing ICE inmates in the jail.

“It’s up to ICE whether they want to do it here, because there’s a list of 100 requirements that have to be met,” said King. “So, I only had an initial conversation at this point. They’re supposed to come out and visit. But other than that, that’s as far as it’s going.”

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King said Strafford County has met those requirements.

About two dozen people spoke.

State Rep. Anita Burroughs (D-Bartlett) said a Nashua man originally from Germany was recently arrested at Logan Airport after returning from a trip to Luxembourg. Burroughs said he was sent to Texas and, as of Monday, was being held in Rhode Island.

“Authorities said that the reason that they had arrested him was because of his criminal record,” said Burroughs. “Well, his criminal record was a minor drug offense in 2015 that had been resolved. ... He’s in facility in Rhode Island, and this is somebody who was here legally. So my constituents and I are concerned about due process.”

Jerry Curran of Conway said a woman studying child psychology was deported for saying something Trump didn’t like in a student newspaper.

“The president has talked about ‘homegrowns.’ ‘We need more room in El Salvador for homegrowns,’” said Curran. “Am I a homegrown? I think I probably am. And maybe this is the kind of talk that shouldn’t happen. It shouldn’t be on the record or I’ll disappear.”

Tom Randall of Moultonborough said he is an American citizen but moved here from the United Kingdom.

“I was formerly a lawyer and I look at what is going on with with ICE and the administration saying that even citizens, but particularly people who are not citizens, do not have a right to due process under the law, which I would see as in contravention of the U.S. Constitution,” said Randall. “And I think the Supreme Court also sees it like that.”

Beverly Woods of Wolfeboro said a young child with cancer who was a U.S. citizen was deported without access to medicine or a doctor.

“If one of our Carroll County law enforcement people found themselves to have participated in deporting that terminally ill toddler, I don’t think they’d sleep well at night, maybe for the rest of their lives,” said Woods.

Tamworth resident Mary Lou Hatcher said she might be disappeared for worshiping with Quakers.

“We’re a historic Peace Church,” said Hatcher. “I’m sure we are not ideologically correct, as the current administration  decides things, I suspect that in the future, if we’re going to be looking at ‘homegrowns’ and who are they, then I’ll be on that list.”

For his part, Emery said: “They keep talking about the Constitution — it’s like they can pick and choose what they want to use. ... I think this is absolutely ridiculous, that they’re defending illegal immigrants more than they’re defending American citizens.”