When protests erupted over a Trump administration plan to turn a warehouse in southern New Hampshire into a detention center for up to 1,500 migrants, one state lawmaker responded by forcefully backing the idea.
“Merrimack residents should be celebrating, not protesting,” state Rep. Jeanine Notter (R) wrote in a Jan. 18 op-ed for a local news website. Notter cited crime statistics about arrested migrants that are inaccurate according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s figures, and she claimed that protesters who gathered in front of town hall earlier that month had been brought in by bus.
The claims closely tracked talking points drafted by a Department of Homeland Security staffer and forwarded to local officials in New Hampshire two days earlier, according to a copy of the emails obtained by The Washington Post.
“If there’s a new facility going in here, Merrimack residents should be celebrating, not protesting,” said the talking points sent by Patrick Farrell, a deputy assistant secretary in DHS’s congressional outreach office.
The episode highlights how DHS has tried to quietly enlist local Republican leaders to promote the administration’s $38 billion plan to transform industrial warehouses in towns and cities across the country into migrant detention centers. Faced with swelling opposition, the agency is backchanneling to political allies, in at least one case with a misleading message, while staying largely silent in public.
The department sent talking points to a Republican state lawmaker in Maryland. It supplied an Arizona congressman with economic projections touting the benefits to the local community. And it held closed-door discussions with members of Congress from Pennsylvania and Mississippi.
Before President Donald Trump announced Kristi L. Noem’s removal as DHS secretary, a department spokesperson said in a statement that Noem “aims to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history.” Farrell did not respond to a request for comment.
So far, DHS has completed the purchase of 10 of the 23 properties it initially pursued, spending more than $890 million, according to deed records or statements by local officials. Efforts to acquire 10 other properties — in Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia — have failed, according to statements by local officials or building owners.
Notter did not respond to questions about whether she received the DHS talking points or why her column so closely resembled them.
The op-ed, published by NH Journal, cited a claim that 70 percent of people arrested by ICE nationwide have been charged or convicted of a crime. Agency data shows it was 57 percent at the time of publication. The op-ed also said the protesters at the Jan. 8 gathering were “activists allegedly bused in.”
Becky Tancrede, 40, a high school teacher who lives in Merrimack, said she was one of a few hundred people who gathered peacefully in a parking lot — many carrying homemade signs. She said she saw no buses.
The Post obtained a copy of the email DHS sent to New Hampshire state Sen. Tim McGough (R), which shows he forwarded it to three other officials. In an interview, McGough said he couldn’t recall getting the message from DHS. When it was read aloud to him, he said, “I get a lot of emails.”
The DHS effort in New Hampshire was not successful. Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) announced last week that DHS was scrapping the proposed Merrimack facility after she raised concerns about it in a meeting with Noem.
McGough, who ultimately opposed the plan, said he and other state and local officials had to “take it on the chin” from residents wanting more answers about the project than DHS had provided. “We were all crying for some transparency for some time,” he said.
In late January, Maryland state Sen. Paul D. Corderman (R) heard from a DHS official about a planned 1,500-bed detention center near Williamsport, in the rural western part of his state. DHS had purchased an 825,620-square-foot warehouse for $102 million, according to a deed.
“Here are the recommended talking points, tailored to MD,” DHS Director of Crisis Communications Christopher C. Hull wrote. Hull wrote that “Maryland’s sanctuary politicians should be thanking” ICE, then repeated some of the talking points sent to McGough. He added a link to Notter’s column, referring to it as “an op ed that another state legislator wrote in a similar circumstance to yours.”
Neither Hull nor Corderman responded to a request for comment.
In Arizona and Pennsylvania, DHS has provided Republican members of Congress details about warehouse projects but left residents and local officials clamoring for more information.
The Republican mayor of Surprise, Arizona, and other local officials say they have received next to no information directly from DHS about a proposed 418,400-square-foot processing center there that could hold up to 1,500 detainees, even as they have been inundated with questions from constituents.
Hundreds of residents packed a Feb. 3 Surprise City Council hearing demanding information about the project, with dozens more protesting outside. Mayor Kevin Sartor and the council sent Noem a letter asking how the property would be redeveloped and operated. In the letter, Sartor emphasized the need for ongoing, formal communication with city leaders.
“When major federal actions have direct and substantial impacts on local communities, infrastructure, and public services, advance communication and intergovernmental coordination are not merely beneficial — they are essential,” he wrote.
Sartor did not respond to a question about whether DHS responded.
Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Arizona) had more success. He wrote to Noem on Feb. 4 with 15 questions about the facility. DHS provided Gosar with economic projections saying the renovated facility would generate millions in local spending and support hundreds of jobs, according to documents his office provided. DHS closed on the purchase of that warehouse on Jan. 23 for $70 million, according to a deed.
In Pennsylvania, residents and local leaders are also pushing for answers from DHS directly about two proposed facilities the agency has purchased, one in Berks County and another in Schuylkill County.
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania) says he has been in regular contact with DHS regarding the two facilities and has been disseminating information to local officials. “These recent developments have raised serious concerns, and I share many of the same questions being raised by local officials and residents,” he said in a statement.
Aaron Schaffer and Gregory S. Schneider contributed to this report.
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