Above: Photo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement included in response to ACLU-NH’s right-to-know request.
By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Documents obtained by the New Hampshire ACLU show state officials have known for weeks that Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to turn a Merrimack warehouse into a prison.
Indepth Your Inbox
Get unbiased nonprofit watchdog news sent directly to your inbox.
“These documents confirm that ICE is not only planning to build a human detention facility in Merrimack, but also that it is actively pursuing legal approvals to do so while declining to tell the public, the press, or the town of its plans,” said Devon Chaffee, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. “In just the first three weeks of 2026, six people have died in ICE custody across the country. We demand more answers, more transparency, and more opposition from our elected leaders to ensure that this disturbing and deeply harmful proposal does not become reality in the Granite State.”
The documents show federal officials asked for feedback from the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources on ICE’s intent to ‘purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a 43-acre warehouse property in support of ICE operations’ around January 12, 2026. ICE wanted to know whether historic resources would be affected by its planned use of the property. By Jan. 21, DHR responded to let ICE know there are no historical resources at the 50 Robert Milligan Parkway property.
Last week, Gov. Kelly Ayotte told members of the press she had no official confirmation from the Trump Administration about ICE’s plans for Merrimack. At the time, Ayotte said she told the White House that Merrimack leaders need to be consulted about any potential ICE expansion.
The documents obtained by the ACLU show that Ayotte’s government actually did know ICE has plans for Merrimack when she spoke last week. Ayotte’s spokesman John Corbett blames DHR for not sharing information with the governor.
“It is entirely unacceptable that the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources failed to share this information with the Governor’s office,” Corbett said in a statement. “Clearly, the Department of Homeland Security is actively pursuing the use of this property without communicating with all stakeholders. We will continue to insist on transparency and communication from the Department of Homeland Security with officials in Merrimack concerning this proposed facility.”
But Rep. Rosemarie Rung, D-Merrimack, told InDepthNH.org that the documents show Ayotte is covering up for the White House and ICE.
“Gov. Ayotte played dumb just last Wednesday about ICE’s plans to build a detention center in Merrimack when State government was notified about it two weeks earlier. I’m incredibly disappointed she is putting the interests of Kristi Noem and ICE over her constituents in Merrimack,” Rung said.
House Minority Leader Rep. Alexis Simpson (D-Exeter) accuses Ayotte of lying about what she knew.
“It is unconscionable that ICE is considering New Hampshire as a place for their industrial human warehouse, and even more outrageous that Gov. Kelly Ayotte has been content to shrug and feign ignorance while this unfolds in her administration,” Simpson said in a statement. “Governor Ayotte’s repeated claims that she ‘couldn’t confirm’ plans for an ICE facility in Merrimack ring hollow. This is no longer speculation; it is a confirmed reality, and her administration is in active communication with ICE. This absence of leadership, paired with what looks like a deliberate effort to obscure the truth, only enables ICE’s pattern of cruelty and secrecy.”
Merrimack officials are opposed to ICE operating in their community, but have not been able to get any answers from the agency. According to the Boston Globe, ICE declined to share details about New Hampshire expansion with town leaders, citing the “heightened threat environment” and “unprecedented opposition being thrown up by the left.”
Opposition has grown against the agency that has been kidnapping American citizens and shipping them to foreign prisons, holding children in Measles-infested detention centers, and sending armed and masked agents into cities where people are beaten, attacked with tear gas, and shot. Last month, ICE agents in Minneapolis killed two unarmed protestors, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
“New Hampshire and the town of Merrimack do not consent to becoming a host for mass detention. Our residents deserve honesty, oversight, and a governor willing to stand up for them. If Governor Ayotte will not stop this in its tracks, then it further proves that Granite Staters can’t trust her,” Simpson said.
You can read the full RTK response here: https://indepthnh.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2.2.26-RTK-Merrimack-2.pdf
