Acting ICE director says DHS shared report on Merrimack ICE proposal with Ayotte

The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement testified Thursday that he sent New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte an “economic impact summary” of a proposed ICE facility in Merrimack, but the governor said that wasn’t true.

However, hours after Interim ICE Director Todd Lyons testified, the Department of Homeland Security sent the document to the governor, but it contains references to Oklahoma and revenue generated by “sales tax and income tax,” which New Hampshire doesn’t have.

The warehouse at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack continues to be a beacon of controversy after it was identified as the location of a possible ICE processing center.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan questioned Lyons on Thursday in a Senate hearing about the property.

“Are you aware that ICE has identified a commercial warehouse in Merrimack, New Hampshire, as a site for a new detention center?” Hassan asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Lyons said.

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Hassan voiced concerns about those plans and went on to ask why another senator had been able to get ICE to retreat from building a detention center in his state.

“Now, my colleague, Sen. (Roger) Wicker from Mississippi, expressed similar concerns about a proposed ICE facility in his state. ICE has now canceled that Mississippi project,” Hassan said. “So, will ICE similarly cancel the New Hampshire project based on these concerns and local opposition?”

Lyons said there are no plans to cancel the Merrimack facility.

“No, ma’am,” he said. “Actually, (the Department of Homeland Security) has worked with Gov. Ayotte, has spoke to the governor about economic impact. We did provide an economic impact summary.”

Hassan asked when that conversation happened.

“And when exactly did you speak with Gov. Ayotte?” Hassan asked. “Because until recently, she said she didn’t know anything about it.”

“DHS officials, ma’am, spoke with her in the past weeks, but I can take that as a get-back and get that exact time for you,” Lyons said.

>> View the exchange between Hassan and Lyons regarding the planned ICE facility in Merrimack:

While a DHS filing with the state Division of Historical Resources has already come to light, there had been no prior mention of an “economic impact summary” until now.

Ayotte is denying any such document ever reached her and issued a statement contradicting the ICE director’s statement.

“This is simply not true,” Ayotte said in the statement. “Director Lyons’ comments today are another example of the troubling pattern of issues with this process. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security continue to provide zero details of their plans for Merrimack, never mind providing any reports or surveys.”

Later Thursday evening, Ayotte said her office asked DHS about the report, and it was sent to her for the first time.

“After my office inquired about the economic impact study following today’s Senate hearing, DHS has now for the first time distributed the document,” Ayotte said. “Once the document was received, we immediately shared it with the Town of Merrimack. We are publishing this document on my website for the public to find.”

The documents are titled “Merrimack, NH Processing Site – Economic Impact Analysis” and “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative.” The economic impact analysis appears to have been created on Monday.

The economic impact analysis claims the facility would support 1,252 jobs during the retrofit and 265 jobs each year. Renovations are projected to cost $158 million, all paid for by the developer.

In total, the facility is expected to put back nearly $280 million into the regional economy.

However, even though the document has “Merrimack” in the title and refers to Merrimack throughout the text, it also notes “ripple effects to the Oklahoma economy” and revenue generated by “sales tax and income tax.” New Hampshire has neither. It’s unclear if this was an error.

Sen. Tim McGough, who represents Merrimack and has publicly opposed the facility, shared his thoughts on the documents shortly after they were published.

“Their long, lengthy, detailed, a bit duplicative and similar of some of the documents we’ve seen from other areas of the country,” McGough said. “So the economic impact looks like it’s significant, but that doesn’t keep us away from the fact that Merrimack has been kept in the dark.”

The reengineering initiative describes a “new detention model” ICE is aiming to implement by the end of Fiscal Year 2026. A processing site like the one planned in Manchester would house an average population of 1,000 to 1,500 people for an average of three to seven days, according to ICE. The intent would be for processing sites to “serve as staging locations for transfers or removals.”

In an interview that aired Sunday on “CloseUp,” Ayotte declined to take a position on the planned ICE facility. Instead, she said the decision should be up to the local community.

During Thursday’s hearing in Washington, D.C., Hassan told Lyons there was local opposition to the ICE facility.

“Let me be very clear. The people of Merrimack, their leadership, do not want this ICE facility in their community. And I think I can safely say that I have yet to find a Granite State community that does. Their worries go from the concerns about the way ICE is operating detention facilities to the fact that they will lose significant property tax value to their community,” Hassan said.

Last week, News 9 reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had applied with the state to renovate an existing building at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway in Merrimack and set up a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center.

The communication between the state’s DNCR and U.S. DHS officials was not shared with Ayotte, something her office called “unacceptable.” Then-DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart said in a statement she was also unaware of the communication.

Stewart resigned on Monday at the request of the governor.