State House rocked after ACLU releases files detailing Ayotte admin working with ICE on Merrimack detention site

Right-to-know documents reveal site maps, photos, and proposed buildouts as NH Democrats say Gov. Kelly Ayotte can’t square her public ignorance with her administration’s paper trail.

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s administration is scrambling to explain how a state agency under her purview exchanged formal correspondence with federal officials about advanced plans to convert a Merrimack warehouse into an immigration detention site. The governor said just days ago she couldn’t confirm the facility was moving forward and such plans were merely “speculative”.

The ACLU of New Hampshire on Tuesday released records it obtained through a Right-to-Know request that it says show Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in mid-January, initiated a regulatory consultation with the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources about its intent to “purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a 43-acre warehouse property in support of ICE operations” at 50 Robert Milligan Parkway.

In the documents, ICE also outlines possible on-site additions and renovations — including “tentage and a guard shack,” as well as buildouts for “holding and processing spaces,” offices, public-facing visitor areas, and “amenities” such as cafeterias, bathrooms, and health care spaces.

“This is no longer speculation; it is a confirmed reality, and her administration is in active communication with ICE,” House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson said in a statement Tuesday, calling the proposal an “industrial human warehouse” and accusing Ayotte of “feign[ing] ignorance.”

According to the ACLU, the records show ICE contacted the state historic preservation office “around January 12, 2026,” seeking feedback on whether historic resources would be affected by ICE’s intended use of the property. The agency’s response, dated Jan. 21, said no historic properties would be affected and no further consultation would be required.

The ACLU said it received the documents by mail on February 2 and made them public Tuesday morning.

The release immediately put Ayotte’s office on the defensive. In a statement attributed to spokesman John Corbett, the governor’s office placed responsibility on the state agency under the Governor’s control.

“It is entirely unacceptable that the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources failed to share this information with the Governor’s office,” Corbett said. “Clearly, the Department of Homeland Security is actively pursuing the use of this property without communicating with all stakeholders. We will continue to insist on transparency and communication.”

But the newly-disclosed timeline undercuts Ayotte’s public posture last week, when she told reporters she had sought information from federal officials and “did not get an answer,” according to reporting Tuesday.

Devon Chaffee, executive director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said the documents show ICE is “actively pursuing legal approvals” while “declining to tell the public, the press, or the town of its plans.”

ICE’s submission included five detailed maps of the site and eight photographs showing exterior views and interior office and warehouse space.

While the records provide a clearer look at planning and regulatory steps, key questions remain — including how many people ICE would seek to hold at the Merrimack location, and what specific functions the site would serve. Some public reporting speculates as many as 500 to 1500 people could be held at the facility.

The ACLU also pointed to conditions inside the federal detention system nationally, noting that “in just the first three weeks of 2026, six people have died in ICE custody across the country.” The organization called for “more answers, more transparency, and more opposition from our elected leaders.”

The property is owned by Trammell Crow Company, which could profit from a sale to the federal government. The latest disclosures land amid weeks of mounting local concern over whether Merrimack could become part of a broader federal immigration detention expansion.

In late December, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that draft federal planning documents described a network of facilities, including “processing sites” designed to hold between 500 and 1,500 people. The Merrimack town manager said at the time the town had no knowledge of the plan before it was reported publicly.

On Dec. 28, WMUR-TV similarly reported Merrimack was named as a possible processing site in those draft plans, though the station noted key details — including the exact location and the extent of local involvement — were unclear at the time.

Now, with state correspondence placing ICE in contact with a New Hampshire agency in mid-January, Democrats are arguing Ayotte can no longer credibly claim the state was in the dark.

“Kelly Ayotte can’t have it both ways. She either flat-out lied to the public … or she’s too sound asleep at the wheel to notice it advancing right under her nose,” Ray Buckley, Chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said in a statement.

As the political finger-pointing intensifies, the documents released Tuesday make one thing harder for state leaders to dispute: whatever the public has been told so far, the federal government’s Merrimack plans were concrete enough to trigger formal consultation paperwork — weeks ago.

At least two US citizens have been fatally shot in incidents involving federal immigration agents this year—the Minneapolis killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti—while at least six people have died while held in ICE detention so far in 2026.