About 1,500 people turned out at Merrimack Town Hall Saturday afternoon to protest a proposed ICE detention facility at a warehouse in town. Despite the lingering effects of the previous night’s snowstorm, the protest drew locals, people from across the state, and a few elected officials.
“Right now we’re trying to do anything we can to put sand in the gears to this actually going forward,” said resident Donna Larue. “This is an atrocity, and I think we’re just trying to find ways to go to the zoning board, go to the town council, and try to push back in any way we can.”
Even though Merrimack is known for leaning more conservative, Larue says people from across the political spectrum are opposing the facility because of its potential impact on the town. Residents at the protest cited a range of concerns, including a strain on water use, the cost of additional emergency services, and lost revenue for the town, from taking a big warehouse off the tax rolls.
“We’re getting screwed doubly — paying more and getting less,” said resident Marc Nozell.
Despite the public opposition, it is still unclear whether ICE is planning on moving forward, as the agency has not responded to multiple requests for comment from NHPR. Local officials say they have also been left in the dark about the plans for the site and have issued a letter of opposition to the facility.
Rep. Wendy Thomas, a Democrat from Merrimack, has been a vocal critic of Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s response and the lack of transparency from ICE on their plans. She said locals have been noticing increased activity, even though there’s not an updated registered deed of sale for the site.
“They took down the lease sign. We’ve seen activity with trucks going in and out. They’ve got security 24/7,” she said. “It’s looking like a duck. It’s quacking like a duck. It’s swimming like a duck. At some point, we have to say it’s a duck.”
Other Granite Staters traveled to Merrimack Saturday to support residents. This is the case for Leigh Robinson, a teacher from Francestown. She says that an ICE facility doesn’t match New Hampshire’s values.
“We moved here because of the mountains, because of its beauty, because of the freedom that we have here, the feeling that we have with the culture of freedom,” she said. “This [facility] does not correlate with the rest of what we stand for.”
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