(The Center Square) — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte is vowing to crack down on a new ‘sanctuary’ movement that plans to monitor federal immigration authorities and aid undocumented immigrants.
Earlier this week, a group of progressive activists declared eight regions of New Hampshire “sanctuaries” from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and outlined plans to provide legal support to people facing deportation and document federal immigration enforcement operations.
“We will do whatever is necessary, legal and moral, to protect ourselves and fellow residents of New Hampshire,” Philip Kaifer, a Manchester activist, told reporters Tuesday at a press briefing at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Concord. “We will surveil ICE raids. We will record them. We will report them to state and national media, as well as to local law enforcement and to the institutions in our communities.”
But the plans drew a sharp rebuke and a threat of legal action from Ayotte, a first-term Republican who has been supportive of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Ayotte signed a law in May banning New Hampshire cities and towns from enacting “sanctuary” policies or limiting cooperation with federal immigration crackdowns. New Hampshire recently signed an agreement with the Trump administration allowing state troopers to arrest and detain immigration suspects after they are trained and certified by federal immigration officials.
“Threats to law enforcement or efforts to obstruct them will not be tolerated in New Hampshire,” Ayotte said in a fiery statement on Tuesday. “We are not a sanctuary for criminals who have come into this country illegally, and the law I signed earlier this year reinforces that.”
“If you disrupt law enforcement activity, you will be prosecuted,” the governor said. “We will enforce our laws and cooperate with federal law enforcement to keep dangerous criminals out of our communities.”
On its website, the group Sanctuary Communities vowed to “protect citizens and immigrants from the clutches of the growing army of federal ICE agents” despite the state law banning sanctuary communities.
“New Hampshire Sanctuary Community participants will monitor ICE raids in local towns, videotape ICE attacks, and document them for the media and local law enforcement,” the group said. “The groups will also assist families and other victims of the brutal attacks taking place in communities across the nation under the guise of immigration enforcement.”
New Hampshire House Majority Leader Sweeney also blasted the group’s plans, saying state leaders “will not allow activists to skirt the law to create open-border policies in New Hampshire.”
“The ban on Sanctuary Cities is the law of the land,” he said in a statement. “It does not matter how many communities try to defy the law. These disastrous open-border policies do not work, and put the public in grave danger. “If you are here illegally, you are not welcome in New Hampshire. You cannot hide. We will find you and deport you.”
