MERRIMACK, N.H. — Several hundred protesters rallied Thursday night outside a town council meeting to express their opposition to the idea that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement might begin housing detainees in a local warehouse.
Citing internal ICE documents, The Washington Post reported in December that the federal agency had identified this town of fewer than 30,000 residents as a potential location for a renovated industrial facility to house between 500 and 1,500 detainees as part of a national network designed to streamline deportations.
The report caught state and local officials by surprise, and Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte said on Wednesday she hadn’t received any information from the federal government about the potential Merrimack facility, which was the only New England location mentioned in the report.
Still, the crowds came to carry anti-ICE signs and express their desire for local officials to resist any such plan. The meeting itself and an overflow room were at capacity, so officials prioritized access for Merrimack residents. At one point during the meeting, the crowd remaining outside repeatedly chanted, “No human warehouse.”
Some attendees spoke with a renewed sense of urgency after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in Minneapolis on Wednesday. While the protest was unfolding in Merrimack, news broke that federal immigration officers had also shot and wounded two people in Portland, Ore., on Thursday.
Andrew Barrie, 36, of North Woodstock, N.H., who stood quietly with an American flag on the periphery of the Merrimack protest, said the Trump administration’s immigration tactics are inexcusable. The officers involved in the fatal shooting in Minneapolis could have defused that situation, so Good’s death was thoroughly unjustified, he said.
“If we just accept this as normal, this is going to continue to happen,” Barrie said, “and I don’t want to live in a country where we have to be afraid to just go down the neighborhood street.”
Anti-ICE protesters converged in Merrimack, N.H., this evening to express their opposition to the idea of a potential “warehouse” facility that the Trump admin has reportedly considered opening in the town. pic.twitter.com/JepTtWjLKa
— Steven Porter (@reporterporter) January 9, 2026
Jenny Almeida, 65, of Chelmsford, Mass., who carried an anti-ICE sign while attending the protest with her sister, said Americans need to recognize that the impacts of President Trump’s immigration crackdown have worsened recently and could deteriorate even further.
Almeida said the demonstrators took their message to town officials because local governments can serve as a check on federal overreach.
“This is where we have the most power,” she said.
Barrie and Almeida are both registered Democrats. There were also at least seven progressive Democratic candidates for federal office in the crowd: congressional candidates Heath Howard, Christian Urrutia, Sarah Chadzynski, and Paige Beauchemin, plus Senate candidates Karishma Manzur and Jared Sullivan.
Merrimack Police Chief Brian Levesque said prior to the protest that his team had called in support from other law enforcement agencies to assist in keeping the protest site secure. There were large lights and barriers around the parking lot where participants spoke.
A pair of counter-protesters, including one wearing a Make America Great Again hat, shouted through a megaphone from across the street. The event remained peaceful.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.