The Department of Homeland Security has scrapped its plans to detain illegal immigrants in a converted warehouse in New Hampshire following pushback from the state’s Republican governor.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would not move forward with its plan to buy a 324,000-square-foot warehouse in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and turn it into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention site where approximately 400 to 600 detainees would be held pending deportation proceedings before a judge.
“I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security will not move forward with the proposed ICE facility in Merrimack,” Ayotte said in a post to X. “During my trip to Washington last week, I had productive discussions with [DHS] Secretary Kristi Noem.”
Ayotte said her decision to lobby against the purchase of the site came after learning of concerns from the Town of Merrimack.
The governor thanked the DHS for its work along the Canadian border, where Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection field officers are based, as well as ICE officers’ work inside the state.
I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security will not move forward with the proposed ICE facility in Merrimack.
— Governor Kelly Ayotte (@KellyAyotte) February 24, 2026
During my trip to Washington last week, I had productive discussions with Secretary Kristi Noem.
I thank her for hearing the concerns of the…
Republicans have largely been on board with the Trump administration’s ICE deportation efforts, making Ayotte an outlier. Her opposition to ICE’s purchasing the warehouse in Merrimack followed Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) urging Ayotte to block the real estate sale, even though it was outside Healey’s state.
“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,” Healey said in a press release earlier this month.
The DHS told Fox News Digital that Noem met with Ayotte last week and that the Merrimack site would not proceed, but the state-federal partnership on immigration efforts would continue.
“I appreciated my discussions with Governor Ayotte last week,” Noem said in a statement. “From banning sanctuary cities to strengthening law enforcement cooperation, New Hampshire has been a strong partner in securing our country, and we look forward to continuing our work together.”
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In a Jan. 23 letter to Noem from the Town of Merrimack, Town Council Chairman Finlay Rothhaus said the government’s procurement of the warehouse would lead to a decline of $529,000 in tax revenue for the small town.
“If an ICE Processing Center is established within the Town, potential difficulties and civil protest would necessitate our Police and Fire/Rescue Department services,” Rothhaus wrote in the letter. “Again, there is potential financial impact upon those departments and their budgets.”
