The New Hampshire State Police, the Gorham police department and the Belknap County Sheriff's Office are seeking to join a program that deputizes local police officers to carry out federal immigration enforcement activity.
The agreement to join what are known as 287(g) programs would allow those local officers to arrest and detain people based on questions about their immigration status.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte applauded the move, saying it was critical for state and local law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Criminals who are in our country illegally and pose a danger should be apprehended and removed,” she said in a statement. “I support and encourage New Hampshire law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE to enforce our laws and keep our communities safe.”
If approved, the agreement between state police, local police officials and ICE would mark a significant and new expansion of state-level cooperation on immigration enforcement in New Hampshire. Previously, the town of Hudson was the only New Hampshire community to have such a program. Two models of the 287(g) program were discontinued in 2012 during the Obama administration amid allegations of racial profiling. That included the task force and hybrid models.
New Hampshire is the only New England state where local law enforcement have sought to take part in the renewed program.
New Hampshire Department of Safety Commissioner Robert Quinn, which oversees the state police force, said — if approved — his agency’s agreement with ICE would help keep New Hampshire communities safe.
“We are pleased to see that the federal government is interested in reinstating the task force model, which would grant both legal authority and protection to our state troopers when they encounter individuals in the United States illegally," Quinn said in a statement. "This agreement will strengthen our longstanding partnerships with federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies, including efforts tied to our state-run Northern Border Alliance program. It also helps ensure New Hampshire’s law enforcement officers can act swiftly to remove dangerous criminals and keep our communities the safest in the Nation."
But local immigration advocates said closer coordination between state and federal police on immigration was not a good step. Eva Castillo of the NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees said participating in the task force program was going to be a “disaster.” She cited the potential for harm due to racial profiling and a decrease of trust between the police and communities of color.
“It’s sad because individual police departments have spent years getting people to trust them again so they can do their job well,” she said in Spanish. “So we’re going back to the years that nobody wants to know anything about the police.”
Former Gov. Chris Sununu sought 287(g) programs, though none was approved under his tenure. He wrote to former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas in 2023, asking Mayorkas to reconsider the task force model.
In his letter, Sununu pointed out that 287(g) programs would not be a significant cost to the federal government. ICE covers the cost of training deputized officers, as well as installing IT infrastructure. However, state and local governments are responsible for all personnel costs, including salaries, benefits, and overtime, as well as all administrative supplies.
