CONCORD, N.H. — Governor Kelly Ayotte said she has received no information from federal authorities about reports that ICE is considering locating a warehouse for detainees in Merrimack, N.H.
The Washington Post reported in December that internal documentation from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed the federal agency has identified Merrimack as the possible location for a renovated industrial warehouse that could be used to house between 500 and 1,500 detainees.
That is part of a national plan that aims to speed up deportations, according to the report.
Of 16 such sites around the country, Merrimack is the only location the reported plan proposed in New England.
Ayotte called reports of the draft plan “speculative” and said the state has not heard from any federal authorities regarding the reported plan.
“Our Department of Safety is in contact with the Department of Homeland Security all the time, and we haven’t heard any notification of that,” she told the press on Wednesday, the first time she’s commented publicly on the issue.
She did not answer a question about whether she supports situating the ICE facility in New Hampshire.
“I would expect, if this were a real plan, which I don’t know yet, because it’s been media speculation at this point, that there would be a process in which local members of the local community would have an opportunity to weigh in,” she told reporters Wednesday.
She raised a question about staffing the potential facility, pointing to the state’s existing workforce shortage when it comes to corrections officers.
“Who staffs it?” said Ayotte.
The New Hampshire Department of Corrections has struggled with a high vacancy rate that has, at some points, surged over 50 percent in recent years. In 2023, those shortages led the state to deploy its National Guard to a prison in Concord after the department requested backup.
And last summer, the department blamed the staffing shortage for an $11 million overage in overtime pay for corrections officers.
Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.