Karen Burnett-Kurie: NH in bottom 8 for number of illegal immigrants, despite Canadian border

To The Daily Sun,

The Republican controlled House and Senate wants us to believe illegal immigrants are a significant issue for New Hampshire. No doubt there's national hype.

A bill prohibiting sanctuary cities is in process. There are four New Hampshire communities who have passed anything related to sanctuary status. I didn't find any headlines about it being discussed by others. So why is this such a burning issue? And why is it necessary to undermine local control over this issue?

An estimated 13% of NH immigrants are undocumented which amounts to 0.7% of the general population. Note, not all of these undocumented immigrants are here illegally.

New Hampshire law explicitly prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving Medicaid or CHIP, in-state tuition at state colleges and universities or getting a driver's license. Federal laws prohibit undocumented immigrants from collecting Social Security or Medicare. Even lawful permanent residents, or LPRs (people with green cards) cannot access some social programs.

None of the recent ICE raids have taken place in NH. I found only two news reports in the last year related to illegal immigrants' criminal activity. In December 2024 Mikhail Sebastian, who was already in jail, was picked up by ICE. So the system worked. In September 2024, two Guatemalan men were arrested near the Pittsburg port of entry for illegal immigration offenses. Remote surveillance equipment detected them near the U.S./Canadian border. So the system worked.

Why is the state making this preemptive? The lead sponsor of the bill stated: "New Hampshire needs to send the message that it is not welcoming to undocumented immigration."

Evidence indicates that message is already out there — we are in the bottom eight states for number of illegal immigrants nationally, even though we have a border with Canada.

Karen Burnett-Kurie

Wolfeboro