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State documents released Feb. 3 by the ACLU of New Hampshire show that state officials knew about the new ICE facility as early as Jan. 12.
Plans for a new immigrant detention facility in New Hampshire have sparked discord within Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s administration, which culminated in a commissioner’s resignation Monday.
In December 2025, The Washington Post reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had plans to renovate industrial warehouses nationwide to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees. The plan includes at least seven large warehouses and 16 smaller processing sites.
One of those processing sites is planned for Merrimack, N.H., the Post reported. Merrimack town officials appeared to have had no knowledge of the plan prior to the Post’s reporting.
Merrimack Town Manager Paul Micali told New Hampshire Public Radio in late December that local officials were “just as surprised when reading the article.” At the time, Micali was awaiting a response from Ayotte’s office to see what the governor’s administration knew.
More than a month later, the Merrimack Town Council made it clear in a statement on its website that members were still in the dark. They explained that they had submitted a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, but their questions had gone unanswered.
“At this time, the Town Council has no knowledge of plans for an ICE Processing Center in Merrimack and continues attempts to validate whether a facility is in fact is [sic] being established in Merrimack,” the council wrote in a Jan. 28 update. “The Town Manager reached out to both Federal and State officials and has been informed that they are also unaware. If we obtain any additional information, we will be making it public as soon as we receive it.”
The Department of Homeland Security later responded that ICE was “unable to share details about any upcoming expansion in New Hampshire or elsewhere” and had “no new detention centers to announce at this time,” according to a Feb. 2 update.
The next day, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire released state documents showing detailed plans for the proposed Merrimack facility, which would be located at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway, the organization said in a press release. Along with confirming that plans for a detention center at the 43-acre warehouse property were in place, they revealed that state officials knew as early as Jan. 12.
The DHS sent an email Jan. 9 to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (DHR) to “initiate consultation” on the facility and propose site renovations and improvements, including but not limited to “installing, upgrading, or rehabilitating existing parking areas, fencing, site lighting, landscaping, drainage/stormwater, recreation areas, and cameras.” The email also mentions the inclusion of “tentage and a guard shack.”
Liz Schneible, the DHR’s program specialist and the email’s recipient, confirmed the request Jan. 12, according to state documents. The ACLU-NH filed a right-to-know request for these documents Jan. 26, and their eventual release prompted outcries from officials.
“Public safety depends on public trust, and trust is shattered when Kristi Noem and the Trump Administration refuse to answer the most basic questions about how your taxpayer dollars are being spent,” Rep. Maggie Goodlander said on X. “This is not how a democracy works. Accountability matters — and we need your voices to demand it.”
The DHR is a division of the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR). Following the release of the documents, Ayotte and members of the New Hampshire Executive Council investigated DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart, according to Valley News.
Ayotte, who has denied having any prior knowledge about the facility, called for New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella to review the incident, Valley News reported. Stewart later issued a statement Feb. 5 taking “full responsibility” for failing to inform the governor.
“Where the process failed is internal notification,” Stewart said in the statement obtained by Valley News. “Division leadership should have elevated this consultation to me because of its potential public sensitivity.”
Stewart was originally expected to resign when her term ended in June, but she stepped down early Monday, a spokesperson for Ayotte said in a statement. Adam Crepeau, deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services, was chosen to serve as acting commissioner during the search for Stewart’s replacement.
Boston.com reached out multiple times to Ayotte’s office, the DNCR, and ICE for comment, but none of them responded. However, Ayotte’s office released documents about the project sent to them Thursday by the DHS following a Senate hearing.
“After my office inquired about the economic impact study following today’s Senate hearing, DHS has now for the first time distributed the document,” Ayotte’s office said in a statement. “Once the document was received, we immediately shared it with the Town of Merrimack. We are publishing this document on my website for the public to find.”
The documents outline the potential economic impact of the facility and ICE’s “new detention model,” planned for implementation by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. The DHS has estimated that the detention center will cost $158 million to renovate and $146 million to operate in its first three years.
Once renovated, the Merrimack facility will have a projected capacity of 400 to 600 beds. Despite the release of these additional documents, Ayotte has not made it publicly clear whether or not she supports the project, drawing the ire of local officials.
Former Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington called on Ayotte to give her constituents the answers they are waiting for.
“Granite Staters deserve to know if Governor Ayotte supports the development of this ICE facility — and whether she tried to hide it from the very start,” Warmington said on X. “There’s no running from this any longer.”
State Sen. Donovan Fenton added that “the people of New Hampshire deserve better than backroom conversations and conflicting stories,” citing the importance of transparency and accountability.
“First we were told she was not informed. Now we learn she had been speaking with DHS for weeks. Both cannot be true,” Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern said on X. “Leadership requires transparency, especially when it comes to federal involvement in our state.”
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