MERRIMACK, N.H. — Hundreds of people gathered on Thursday night to protest after a recent report indicated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center could be coming to a town in southern New Hampshire.
The protest was held outside Merrimack Town Hall. Inside, councilors listened to testimonies from residents united against the idea of an ICE facility being constructed in their community.
“The very idea of our town being considered for such a facility is a moral crisis,” one resident said.
Another questioned, “Do we really want to bring that to our town? And when we say there’s nothing we can do, they’re banking on us feeling that way.”
“All I ask you guys is to really think, Merrimack. We’re neighbors, we’re friends. This is not what we want,” another resident added.
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Last month, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was “seeking contractors to help it overhaul the country’s immigrant detention system” in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses into seven large-scale detention centers and 16 smaller processing sites.
According to the report, the facility in Merrimack would be one of the 16 smaller processing sites with 500 to 1,500 beds.
The protest came a day after a woman was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, and on a day in which officers shot two others during a traffic stop in Portland, Oregon.
Also on Thursday night, hundreds of people protested in Boston Common to show support for Renee Nicole Good, the wife and mother killed in Minneapolis.
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