Press Release  Governor Healey Calls on Governor Ayotte to Oppose New ICE Detention Center in New Hampshire

Boston — Today, Governor Maura Healey has issued the following statement opposing an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency detention center in Merrimack, New Hampshire: 

“This is outrageous and absolutely the wrong move for New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and our entire region.

ICE is shooting people dead on the street. Mothers have been ripped from cars and separated from children. U.S. Citizens have been stopped, detained and even killed. Peaceful protestors have been assaulted. Parents are afraid to send kids to school, to go to church, to seek health care and report crimes. None of this makes people safer – it makes us all less safe.

Now ICE wants to build a new 400-bed facility in Southern New Hampshire to supercharge their horrific deportation tactics in our communities. This will impact people in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and across our region. Enough is enough.

We should be opposing ICE’s tactics, not allowing them to expand. 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.” 

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