CONCORD, N.H. - The ACLU of New Hampshire today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to respond to its official request for documents that have been used, or will be used, to train the approximately 138 law enforcement officers in 13 New Hampshire law enforcement agencies participating in 287(g) agreements.
The lawsuit argues that the public has a right to know how 13 New Hampshire law enforcement agencies—including New Hampshire’s largest police force, the State Police—will enforce a federal immigration program that was previously suspended in 2012 following racial profiling concerns. Especially after the recent killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it is critical to learn how law enforcement officers who are engaging in immigration enforcement are trained.
“Across the country we have seen deadly, harmful, and fear-inducing tactics used by federal immigration officers. Now our local police are deputized to do this work despite ICE providing no transparency as to the training it has provided,” said Gilles Bissonnette, Legal Director of the ACLU of New Hampshire. “There have already been concerning arrests made under these 287(g) agreements right here in New Hampshire that ruin or change the lives of the people involved, and yet Granite Staters have few answers as to what the rules are for how local law enforcement are supposed to operate. We need transparency.”
The 287(g) Program is a set of partnerships between ICE and state and local agencies that effectively turns local officials into ICE agents, authorizing selected officers to identify, arrest, and process certain people for immigration enforcement and ultimately deportation. New Hampshire is the only state in New England where local police have entered formal agreements to engage in immigration enforcement. The Troy Police Department, the Colebrook Police Department, the Carroll Police Department, and the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office have already engaged in immigration arrests under this program.
The court documents filed today highlight a number of examples, including:
- The Troy Police Department’s arrest of a person from Brazil who was a passenger in a vehicle. He had valid work authorization and had received special protective status. After being detained by the Troy Police Department, this person was subsequently detained for more than a month with no criminal charges and only released after a court order following the filing of a lawsuit.
- The Troy Police Department’s arrest of a man who then spent 15 days in ICE custody in Strafford County jail in Dover before he was released through court proceedings. After the filing of a habeas petition, the U.S. District Court ruled that the man’s “present detention without a bond hearing violates” the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. The Court ordered that an immigration judge hold a bond hearing within seven days. The man posted a $4,500 bond, and he was released. The man had a two-month old baby and a young daughter.
- In another case, the Troy Police Department police chief elected to stop a vehicle for travelling the speed limit of 55 miles per hour, but then “all of a sudden” putting on the brakes and slowing down to 45 miles per hour, which was lower than the speed limit. It is unclear what motor vehicle offense this driver committed.
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