The Merrimack town council sent a letter to federal and state officials Friday voicing opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement establishing a processing facility in the town.
This comes after the Washington Post reported in December that ICE was planning on converting an industrial site in the town into a detention center that could hold up to 1,500 detainees.
At the time, Merrimack town manager Paul Micali told NHPR that the town learned about such plans from the Post, having received no communication from federal or state officials.
Last week, Democratic state Rep. Rosemarie Rung shared on social media what she described as a leaked ICE document that identified 50 Robert Milligan Parkway as the potential site of such a facility.
The letter sent by Merrimack officials Friday, addressed to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, laid out the town’s financial and logistical reasons for opposing an ICE facility, citing two primary “areas of great concern.”
“If the potential non-verified warehouse is purchased by the federal government, there would be a $529,000 decrease in tax revenue. This would result in an increase in the tax rate for our citizens,” the letter stated.
“If an ICE Processing Center is established within the Town, potential difficulties and civil protest would necessitate Police and Fire/Rescue Department services,” it continued. “Again, there is potential financial impact upon those departments and their budgets.”
The letter, signed by town council chairman Finlay Rothhaus, also stated that there is “an expectation of communication” with the town manager if the federal government does decide to create such a facility in the town.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and the Boston regional ICE office have not responded to NHPR’s request for comment.
In the weeks after the first reporting about the potential facility, activists from the community and across New Hampshire organized a protest in town that criticized the plan and the Trump administration’s recent actions broadly. The gathering happened one day after the shooting death of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
When asked about the plan earlier this month, Gov. Kelly Ayotte said she had heard nothing from the federal government and described the conversation as “speculative.”
On Friday, Micali said that the town government is still trying to confirm the reports.
“We actually got correspondence from DHS, out of Washington, and they have said that there has been no official confirmation that the facility is coming,” he said.
Merrimack police said they are still treating the site as any other in town, and had received no further information about any potential plans for it.
“We are treating it as if it’s a vacant warehouse,” Police Chief Brian Levesque said.
He said he encouraged people to wait for confirmation before reacting, saying that press inquiries and anxiety over the situation have required the department to redirect time and resources.
