State Rep. Rosemarie Rung (D-Merrimack)

MERRIMACK – There continues to be quite an uproar over the possibility of an immigrant detainee processing site in town.

According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to use a former industrial warehouse to hold up to 1,500 detainees in Merrimack. It would be used as a temporary holding facility before detainees are sent to larger detention centers where they would ultimately be deported.

Another 15 smaller detention centers are planned elsewhere across the country as part of an effort to revamp the U.S. immigration detention system.

Town Manager Paul Micali said he was completely unaware of the plans. He reached out to Gov. Kelly Ayotte and the town’s federal delegation; however, they were unable to provide additional information.

In a joint statement, State Reps. Nancy Murphy (D-Merrimack), Rosemarie Rung (D-Merrimack) and Wendy Thomas (D-Merrimack) said allowing a detention center would convey the notion that the town condones ICE’s ongoing illegal activities.

State Rep. Wendy Thomas (D-Merrimack)

“Building a detention facility in Merrimack would make our town complicit in cruelty and human rights abuses. These facilities operate by warehousing human beings, often for months or years, under harsh conditions that dehumanize and traumatize adults and children alike,” they said. “Detention has been shown to cause lasting psychological harm, particularly to asylum seekers and survivors of violence. No community that values dignity, fairness and the rule of law should accept this.”

The legislators also said funding a detention facility would be a tremendous misallocation of financial resources as investments should be earmarked for housing, healthcare, education and public safety.

“Merrimack is a town built on community, compassion and respect for our neighbors,” said Murphy, Rung and Thomas. “We believe in upholding human rights and following the law, not profiting from suffering or normalizing abuse behind barbed wire and locked doors. We call on local and state officials to reject any proposal to cite immigrant detention facilities in Merrimack and to instead support humane, community-based alternatives that respect due process and human dignity. Our town should stand on the right side of history, against cruelty, against lawlessness and for human rights.”

House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson (D-Exeter) said ICE facilities have no place anywhere in New Hampshire.

“Across the country, these facilities have been associated with serious human rights violations, a lack of due process, inadequate medical care and the prolonged detention of many people who pose no public safety threat,” said Simpson. “Building an ICE processing warehouse in New Hampshire would entangle our state in a federal detention system that has repeatedly failed to meet basic standards of fairness and humanity. New Hampshire House Democrats will fight the establishment of an ICE processing warehouse in our state every step of the way.”

State Rep. Nancy Murphy (D-Merrimack)

As of Nov. 28, 2025, a combined 344 detainees were being held at the Berlin Federal Correctional Institution and at the Strafford County House of Corrections in Dover, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. This time last year, the number of detainees was at 81, all of whom were held in Dover.