Healey, Ayotte spar over proposed ICE facility in N.H.

Local News

ICE wants to turn a warehouse in Merrimack, New Hampshire, into a detention center that could house as many as 600 people.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte are sparring over the proposed creation of a new ICE detention facility in the Granite State. The two leaders are trading barbs as Ayotte also manages the fallout from an apparent lack of communication between ICE and her office regarding the new facility. 

Healey issued a statement Friday heavily criticizing the immigration enforcement agency, saying that it wants to build a 400-bed facility in New Hampshire to “supercharge their horrific deportation tactics.”

“We certainly should not be allowing ICE to build new human warehouses when they can’t be trusted to keep people safe and protect due process. I oppose this in the strongest possible terms, and I am demanding that Governor Ayotte do everything in her power to block a new ICE facility in Southern New Hampshire,” Healey said. 

Ayotte fired back, blaming Healey for an immigration crisis and telling her to focus on her own state. 

“New England is in this position because Governor Healey and Massachusetts created a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis in our region. Get your own house in order, Maura. I will continue to advocate for the Town of Merrimack and for New Hampshire,” Ayotte said. 

News that ICE was planning to create a detention facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, was first reported by The Washington Post in December. Local officials have told the Trump administration that they oppose the plans and said that they were kept in the dark until earlier this month. The ACLU of New Hampshire published documents that confirm the plans and refer to communications between ICE and the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. 

Ayotte, who had denied knowledge of the plans since the news first broke, responded by demanding the resignation of the official who led the state agency that oversees DHR and calling for the state’s attorney general to look into the incident. The official who resigned took “full responsibility” for failing to inform Ayotte, New Hampshire Public Radio reported. 

But the story was given new life last week when Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, said during a Senate hearing that his agency had spoken with Ayotte about the facility. Ayotte quickly released a statement saying that Lyons was not telling the truth. She said that this represented a “troubling pattern” and that the Department of Homeland Security had not provided any details about the plans for Merrimack. 

DHS then sent documents about the specifics of the plans to Ayotte’s office, which published them on Friday and Saturday. 

During an appearance on WCVB’s “On the Record” Sunday, Healey continued to rail against ICE and pressure Ayotte. 

“To think that they’re going to spend money and resources to build some facility in southern New Hampshire on our border, that’s bad for Massachusetts, it’s bad for New Hampshire … and it’s bad for this region,” Healey said. “It’s a terrible idea and it should not happen and the governor has the authority to say ‘no.’”

Spokespeople for ICE did not return requests for comment Tuesday. 

Healey has ramped up her criticism of ICE this year, frequently referencing the deadly surge in Minnesota and other alleged abuses by agents in Massachusetts. She filed legislation and signed an executive order meant to constrain federal immigration enforcement. Healey is calling ICE a “broken” agency that needs to be drastically reformed but has so far stopped short of advocating for it to be abolished outright. 

Healey launched her reelection campaign last month with a heavy emphasis on opposing the Trump administration. A recent report from Morning Consult found that Healey is among the most popular governors in the country, with a 62% approval rating. Ayotte’s approval rating is 56%, according to the report. 

The facility

The new facility would be located at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack. The project would involve retrofitting an existing 43-acre “warehouse property” to “support ICE operational requirements.” This could include the construction of “holding and processing spaces, office space, public-facing visitor spaces, and installation of amenities, such as cafeterias, bathrooms, and health care spaces,” according to the documents obtained by the ACLU. Officials also listed the possible installation of “tentage and a guard shack.”

The building itself is 324,395 square feet and would have a projected capacity of 400 to 600 beds, according to the ICE documents released by Ayotte’s office. 

The Trump administration estimates that the facility would cost $158 million to retrofit and $146 million to operate in the first three years. It would support 1,252 jobs during the retrofitting process and up to 265 jobs each year of operation, according to federal officials. 

It is part of ICE’s wider “Detention Reengineering Initiative,” an effort meant to overhaul the agency’s “detention model” in order to accommodate “the growing demand for bedspace” and streamline the deportation process, according to the documents. 

ICE is looking to buy and renovate eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing sites around the country. They will be designed to handle both “immediate surge capacity” and “sustained longterm operations.” The goal is to fully implement the new detention model by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. The estimated cost is $38.3 billion. 

ICE officials already oversaw a major increase in the number of people being detained last year. Changes in arrest practices have created a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in detention on any given day, according to the American Immigration Council.