Until this week, the federal government’s hopes of converting an industrial warehouse in Merrimack, N.H., into a regional detention facility for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been a growing thorn in Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte’s side.
Communication breakdowns among state and federal officials had fueled questions about her command of the situation, and recurring protests kept ICE’s plans in the public consciousness. Although local opposition was bipartisan, Democrats jumped at the chance to put pressure on Ayotte, who’s up for reelection.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington featured the ICE warehouse in her campaign launch video on Feb. 18, saying Ayotte wouldn’t “stand up” to President Trump. Then former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg delivered a similar message in New Hampshire while railing against Trump’s “mass incarceration” agenda.
Dean Spiliotes, a civic scholar at Southern New Hampshire University, said the slow-brewing controversy would have dominated political discourse ahead of the November election, and Ayotte would have eventually been forced to take a clear stand either for or against the ICE facility.
Like many other Republican leaders, Ayotte is figuring out how to keep applauding immigration enforcement and border security without necessarily being associated with the full breadth of ICE’s increasingly unpopular activity, Spiliotes said.
For that reason, Ayotte’s announcement on Tuesday that she had spoken with Trump administration officials and confirmed ICE will back off its plans for Merrimack achieved the only outcome that was “politically workable,” Spiliotes said.
The University of New Hampshire Survey Center released polling data Wednesday that illustrate the dynamic at hand: While nearly two-thirds of Granite Staters (65 percent) say illegal immigration is a serious problem in the United States, a slim majority (52 percent) say ICE’s actions under the Trump administration have made the country less safe.
The survey found respondents were significantly less concerned about illegal immigration in their local community than across the rest of the country.
That helps to explain Ayotte’s messaging, which she reiterated Wednesday in a radio interview. When asked about her own concerns related to the Merrimack warehouse, Ayotte said she had “conveyed” the concerns of local leaders to federal officials. She also said other states are “contributing” to immigration-related problems, while New Hampshire is doing its part to promote public safety by banning sanctuary policies and cooperating with federal law enforcement.
Spiliotes said the governor seems to have put the warehouse matter behind her. That said, the ICE-related anxieties in New Hampshire are much broader than one warehouse and may continue to be politically salient, as locals have been disturbed by images from raids in Minneapolis and elsewhere, he said.
In their fight over funding for the US Department of Homeland Security, congressional Democrats have demanded new guardrails on ICE, such as prohibiting agents from entering churches and schools, requiring them to get a judicial warrant before arresting someone, and banning them from covering their faces.
The UNH survey found that each of those potential guardrails is supported by a majority of New Hampshire residents, including a majority of independents.
A version of this story appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, a free newsletter focused on New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles elsewhere. To receive it via email Monday through Friday, sign up here.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.