Ayotte Gets No Relief From White House On Merrimack ICE Facility Controversy

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

If Gov. Kelly Ayotte was looking for help from the White House on the controversial ICE detention facility proposed for Merrimack, she didn’t get it from the briefing room podium on Wednesday.

Asked by NHJournal what the Trump administration’s message is to Granite Staters concerned about the proposal, White House spokeswoman — and New Hampshire native — Karoline Leavitt said the facilities are necessary to address what she called the open-borders “mess” left by the Biden administration.

“The message is that illegal immigration, while the border is secure, is still a problem across our entire homeland, and the previous administration allowed nearly 20 million illegal aliens from countries all over the world into our country,” Leavitt said during Wednesday’s briefing.

“The president and (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem have done a phenomenal job of deporting nearly 3 million illegals, who have left the country either through deportation or self-deportation over the past year. But obviously, there are a lot more illegal alien criminals left in our homeland.”

That includes New England, Leavitt added.

“There are many (illegal immigrants) within our communities — in New Hampshire, in Maine, definitely in Massachusetts and in the Boston suburbs — who need to be arrested, detained, and deported back to their home countries.”

The ICE facility has become a major political headache for Ayotte, one that her potential opponent, Democrat Cinde Warmington, seized on when she announced her candidacy earlier that morning.

“Kelly Ayotte refuses to fight for Granite Staters,” Warmington said in her announcement video. “She won’t even stand up and tell Trump we don’t want his ICE warehouse in Merrimack or anywhere else in our state.”

As unconfirmed reports about the proposed center appeared in the media, Ayotte told reporters she had repeatedly reached out to the Trump administration for confirmation and details about any plans for the Merrimack property. She said she was blindsided when, on Feb. 4, the ACLU of New Hampshire released documents it said were leaked by someone in the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources — documents the department did not share with her office.

The head of the agency that oversees the division, Commissioner Sarah Stewart, resigned, leaving Ayotte to deal with the political fallout.

Then, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons testified that his office had been in contact with Ayotte and sent her an economic impact summary regarding the proposed facility. That later proved inaccurate, and the summary — which contained significant errors — was sent to Ayotte after Lyons’ testimony.

Regardless, Democrats continue to claim Ayotte was secretly involved in the process.

On Wednesday, Leavitt added more fuel to the fire in response to NHJournal’s question.

“The president and Secretary Noem and ICE are engaged with governors across the country, including in New Hampshire, to open more detention facilities.

“This is an unfortunate consequence of the previous administration’s border invasion that the president has thankfully put a stop to. But of course, we still need to grapple with the illegal alien criminals who are here, and that requires more detention space.”

After the briefing, Ayotte released a statement reiterating her efforts to secure more communication and coordination between the White House and the New Hampshire community.

“Our office has been in communication for weeks with officials at the White House and DHS about this facility to urge that they coordinate with the town of Merrimack and take local input into account before even considering siting a facility like this in New Hampshire.”

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.