‘That’s un-American’: Stefany Shaheen slams immigration tactics on campaign trail

The Portsmouth Democrat says outrage over aggressive immigration enforcement is motivating voters across party lines as she campaigns for New Hampshire’s open congressional seat.

Granite Staters do not want an “Alligator Alcatraz” in New Hampshire. That’s something Stefany Shaheen is absolutely certain of.

That’s why the mother of four and former Portsmouth City Council member, who is running to be the Democratic nominee for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, was on the front lines in the fight to stop the Trump administration from converting a 43-acre warehouse site in Merrimack into a massive detention camp for immigrants.

It was thanks to Shaheen and thousands of local protesters and elected officials that New Hampshire’s Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte, met with former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month to discuss Granite Staters’ concerns about the proposed project. Gov. Ayotte announced on Feb. 24 that the Merrimack facility would “not move forward.”

Anger over the planned ICE facility was “palpable,” Shaheen told the Granite Post in an interview. “People were outraged.”

So outraged, in fact, about ICE expanding its presence in Merrimack—a town of 26,700—that 1,500 Granite Staters rallied in front of the facility as well as in Wolfeboro and Meredith.

For weeks, Gov. Ayotte refused to publicly oppose the Merrimack ICE detention facility—which would have been located in Shaheen’s 1st Congressional District.

But the persistent protesters, along with new polling showing that Ayotte’s approval rating dropped to 47%, appeared to have forced the governor to take action. 

Ayotte did not appear pleased to be pressured by her own constituents. Her spokesperson, John Corbett, issued a statement that seemed to mock the protesters and claim they were all politically motivated.

“The Democrats love to sing songs and stand in snow, while Kelly Ayotte is busy getting shit done and delivering what the people of our state are asking for,” Corbett said.

Stefany Shaheen disagreed with Corbett’s assertion of partisanship. 

She told the Granite Post that residents opposing the facility cross party lines. “This isn’t about Republican or Democrat,” she said. “It’s about people being unified against these outrageous tactics being used by ICE.”

At an anti-ICE protest in Portsmouth’s Market Square, Shaheen stood next to former Republican Sen. Gordon Humphrey, who once ran against her mother, US Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, for governor.

“Never in a million years would I have imagined that Gordon Humphrey and I would be together in protest, but it really does speak to this knowing no party,” Shaheen said.

Outside of her work to halt the Merrimack facility, Shaheen has spent months traveling her district and talking with residents of all political backgrounds. 

She told the Granite Post that residents are keenly aware of ICE’s aggressive actions in Maine and Minneapolis and are “disgusted” by what some have called the Trump administration’s dehumanization of immigrants.

“We’re a local-control state. This is a Live Free or Die state, and we had town officials who were not even informed about plans for the detention camp,” she said.

“Our state is rooted in ‘Be who you want to be, you be you.’ But what we’re seeing are more and more aggressive actions being taken by this (Trump) administration to send a message that you’re only going to be able to live free if you are living the way we want you to live. If you’re willing to subject yourself to the kind of fear we want to inflict.”

Fighting for the rights of Granite Staters to live free and without fear is central to Shaheen’s Congressional ambitions.

“There’s anger at how we got to this place, and what I hear is that voters want someone who’s ready to fight back and push hard,” she said. “I’m hearing from voters firsthand how important it is to be electing people who are willing to roll up their sleeves, to do the hard work and be ready to take on the fight. I’m going to fight to tackle the problems they are facing.”

Shaheen said residents in her district already live in fear of potential deportations. ICE agents “have not been well-trained,” Shaheen said, noting her concerns about officers “using military-style weapons to wreak terror in our communities.” Shaheen, who chaired the Portsmouth Police Commission, believes ICE presence does not make anyone safer.

“They want to unleash fear and terror,” she said. “They want to ‘other’ immigrants so they can have someone else to blame, and people can be distracted by the fear they’ve inflamed and distracted from the real problems people are facing every day. Nobody wants people coming into this country illegally and committing crime. Criminals need to be deported, but the vast majority of people being detained are not.”

She recalled the story of one constituent who said she fears for her daughter, an adoptee from China who is now a naturalized citizen.

“After Minneapolis, she got multiple copies of her daughter’s passport and birth certificate and all of her naturalization papers so she could have them in her car and could carry them with her, plus have them in her home,” Shaheen said.

Another resident in Manchester, originally from Puerto Rico, told Shaheen how she and her husband, a veteran, are now frightened to speak Spanish in public. Both carry their passports at all times.

“That’s un-American,” said Shaheen, “to demand that people show you their passports because they don’t ‘look’ American. Who gets to decide that?”

If nominated, Shaheen would likely face Republican multimillionaire businessman Tony DiLorenzo, a Trump supporter who has reportedly dipped into his own fortune to support his campaign.

DiLorenzo has not spoken out against the ICE facility and was a major donor to the 2022 1st District congressional campaign of Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s current press secretary. Leavitt lost the election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

Shaheen’s own background has fueled her stance on ICE operations.

Her father, William, an attorney and judge, grew up in a tenement apartment in Dover, New Hampshire.

“Everyone who lived in that apartment was of Lebanese descent. They immigrated from Lebanon. His apartment could have been targeted (by ICE), and if you look at him, you could say he looks like he’s from the Middle East.

“Who gets to decide who’s American enough?”