While we are no strangers to New England’s cold winters, it seems some unnecessary Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) has made its way to our beloved Granite State.
The Donald Trump Administration plans to build 23 new ICE detention facilities and processing sites, one of which is located in our very own Merrimack, New Hampshire (NH), according to The Washington Post.
While the timeline of this proposed project is unknown, I want to make it clear that ICE has no place in any U.S. state when just about half of the individuals they are arresting have no criminal record. As reported by The Washington Post, “48 percent of these people have no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, ICE data shows.”
When Gov. Kelly Ayotte spoke to reporters a few weeks ago, she seemingly had no confirmed information regarding the potential ICE facility in Merrimack.
“I would expect, if this were a real plan, which I don’t know yet because it’s been media speculation at this point, that there would be a process in which members of the local community would have an opportunity to weigh in, as, I would think, at some point, the state would be consulted. But none of that’s happened yet,” said Ayotte, according to the NH Bulletin.
Now I have been keeping myself up to date with any ICE-related news across the country and I have seen countless community members in different states “weighing in” only to be met with violence committed by the ICE agents they are protesting. So if Gov. Ayotte believes the Trump Administration will ask our opinion first, she is dead wrong.
Many state governors have also come forward to tell President Donald Trump that ICE is not welcome, but that didn’t stop him either, did it? The simple answer is no. However, I believe it is important to notice how Gov. Ayotte did not express any distaste for an ICE facility in NH, she only briefly mentioned how we would staff such a facility with the ongoing staffing shortage in NH prisons, according to the NH Bulletin.
How are residents of NH supposed to feel safe in their daily lives knowing ICE could disrupt everything they’ve ever known. Gov. Ayotte has a responsibility to protect NH residents and she MUST show that her priorities lie with the people she governs. Although, as mentioned in many articles I’ve written, she has failed to do so in the past.
NH state Rep. Wendy Thomas, a Democrat representing Merrimack, attended a hearing on HB1609, which is defined as “Limiting the use of state, county, and municipal funds and property for construction and operation of certain immigrant detention facilities.”
In said hearing, Thomas brought forth a message she had received and read it aloud, “‘We wanted to get photos of the building when a Merrimack police officer pulled up and asked for ID. When we asked if we were breaking a law, they said no, but the officer said they were told to patrol the area because it was an ICE holding area,’” read Thomas, according to InDepthNH.org.
Merrimack Police Chief Brian Levesque called Thomas’s statement “reckless” and false. However, Levesque told InDepthNH he received multiple calls similar to the message Thomas had received, and brushed it off as a “rumor.”
Instead of forming sides on the issue, I believe we should be focusing on the fact that ICE is shooting and killing individuals for expressing their First Amendment rights and kidnapping families and shoving them into warehouses where they are treated as less than human. What ICE is doing and what the Trump Regime is enabling them to do, is unconstitutional and illegal.
Now I don’t know about you, but I can say with absolute certainty that I want none of that in my state, let alone the whole country.
You can track ICE using iceinmyarea.org and attend protests to vocalize your anger and disgust with our current Administration. Most importantly, know your rights! Important information to know when encountering ICE can be found at the National Immigrant Justice Center website.
When we stand with our neighbors, united, we are stronger than when we stand alone.
Madelyn Marabella can be contacted at
mmarabella@kscequinox.com
