New Hampshire State Police enters ICE agreement, Gov. Kelly Ayotte takes swipe at Massachusetts

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on May 1, 2025

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BOSTON — Gov. Kelly Ayotte is taking another swipe at the Bay State as New Hampshire State Police will be allowed to question, arrest and hold aliens based solely on immigration status while Massachusetts limits its cooperation with ICE.

“New Hampshire will not go the way of Massachusetts, where sanctuary policies have enabled violent crime and a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis,” Ayotte said in a statement on Wednesday. “Criminals who are in our country illegally and pose a danger to our communities should be apprehended and removed.”

Ayotte’s statement came after the New Hampshire State Police and several local law enforcement departments and sheriff’s offices entered a memorandum of agreement with ICE that will allow aliens to be questioned, arrested and held based solely on their immigration status.

Roughly 230 other agencies in 24 states have signed similar agreements, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The only entity from Massachusetts included in that group is the state Department of Corrections.

The DOC has operated a Jail Enforcement Model since June 2020, allowing corrections officers to “identify and process individuals in state custody who may be subject to immigration enforcement actions.”

New Hampshire signed onto ICE’s Task Force Model, which, according to the feds, “serves as a force multiplier by allowing state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority during routine police enforcement duties.”

“This model allows state and local agencies to carry out immigration enforcement activities in non-custodial settings while under ICE supervision and oversight,” a description of the model states.

Troopers and officers must receive training before gaining the authority to perform the limited actions.

In Massachusetts, a 2017 Supreme Judicial Court ruling prevents local law enforcement from holding someone only based on a civil immigration detainer issued by federal officials beyond the time they would otherwise be released from custody.

That means aliens must be released even if federal immigration authorities issue a civil immigration detainer.

Massachusetts House Democrats have rejected Republican-led efforts this week to reform the SJC ruling.

Ayotte often mentioned Massachusetts on the campaign trail as a “cautionary tale” before winning last November’s gubernatorial race in the Granite State. She adopted a “Don’t Mass up New Hampshire” slogan, pointing to how the Bay State has spent a fortune on housing migrants.

Ayotte also campaigned on banning sanctuary cities.

“We’ve got the Massachusetts illegal immigrant crisis right down the road if you want to see what these dangerous policies do not just to communities, but to the state budget,” Ayotte said in her inaugural address in January. “They’ve spent over a billion dollars housing migrants rather than investing in their law-abiding residents. We can’t allow that to happen here.”

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