GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – People voiced their overwhelming opposition to Hillsborough County entering into an agreement with ICE to hold detainees at the Valley Street Jail during a public hearing Wednesday on the county’s proposed $147.4 million budget for 2026.
They also spoke against the sheriff’s department signing an agreement with ICE, saying the county shouldn’t do the federal government’s work and open itself up to possible lawsuits should things go badly.
One woman noted that no one was given the opportunity to express their opinion about the ICE contract before Sheriff Brian Newcomb signed it.
The public hearing was held by the county’s Executive Committee, comprised of legislators, at the Bouchard Building, 329 Mast Road.
Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais, who was the first to speak, did not address the issue with ICE but focused on the 20 percent increase in the county tax for Manchester residents. Currently, he said, the city was paying $14.7 million but, with the proposed budget, that will increase by $3 million to $17.7 million, what he called a “significant increase.”
Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess said his city is currently paying $14 million in county tax. Nashua also saw a $3 million increase to $17 million, which makes up more than 1 percent of the city’s budget, he said.
He also said that Ruais was being modest in omitting to say that Manchester placed third out of 148 cities in WalletHub’s ranking of cities based on financial stability, education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure and pollution. Nashua, Donchess said, was fifth.
His announcement was greeted with applause by the standing room-only crowd. The point, he said, is that “we’re not wasting a lot of money at the municipal level.”
Donchess asked the legislators “to help us relieve the burden on taxpayers across the county” and suggested surplus funds could be used to do that.
Prior to the public session beginning, New Hampshire State Representative Jordan Ulery of Hudson asked Rep. Megan Murray, chair, to bar representatives from speaking since they would be voting tomorrow night.
Murray denied his request.
After the public session ended, Ulery told Manchester Ink Link, “You can’t have a juror testify.” He explained that the information legislators learned from the public session would be used in making their decision when they vote on the budget Thursday night.
“Their job is to make informed decisions,” he said.
Barry Parquette of Milford was the only person speaking in favor of the county working with ICE. He said he read a social media post – he didn’t say on what platform – that said Hillsborough County wanted to arrest immigrants on ICE’s behalf and “We won’t let them.” He said the post didn’t make sense to him.
“We need to get them out – the drug abusers and the drug sellers,” he said.
Tom Burgess of Peterborough read a portion of an article published in the Portland Press Herald. It told the story of a man from the Congo who fled his homeland after being tortured and imprisoned. He arrived in the United States in May 2023 on a tourist visa and applied for asylum while living and working in Maine. He was picked up by ICE and held in the Strafford County jail in Dover.
Burgess pointed out that man lives in Maine but is being held in a New Hampshire jail.
In his 2026 proposed budget, Jail Superintendent Joseph Costanzo budgeted $734,781 in contingency funds to cover any ICE agreement. He told Manchester Ink Link the funds would be “cost neutral,” that is, ICE would reimburse the jail for the cost of detaining the immigrants.
He said the contingency is not a response to the sheriff’s contract, but to legislation requiring the county to hold ICE detainees up to five days.
“Ice used to come and pick them up right away,” he said. “The only way the county would be reimbursed would be if we enter into a contract with ICE.”
State Representative Kathy Staub is a Democrat who represents Manchester’s Ward 5, which she says is referred to as the “United Nations” for its diversity. She said immigrants being picked up by ICE is already happening in the city. One man, she said, stopped at a restaurant for take-out on his way to work at a construction site and was arrested.
She said the contract the sheriff signed is “vague” when it comes to what the deputies would be required to do. “The federal government has no intention of paying for anything except training,” she said.
Staub said as for the jail taking in federal detainees, she said the last time the jail did that “it ended very badly.”
Grace Kindeke of Manchester, program coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, said she came to the United States as a toddler from the Democratic Republic of Congo. At 17, she said, she was a taxpayer and today a U.S. Citizen, a homeowner and still a taxpayer.
Liz Ludeman of Manchester wore her message front and back – “End 287g Now” and “Don’t Take our Neighbors” – while commenting during the June 18 Hillsborough County public hearing (287g is the agreement the sheriff signed with ICE.) Photos/Pat Grossmith
She said just this morning she received a frantic call informing her that people on their way to work were picked up and arrested in Milford. Kindeke contended that the agreement with ICE in reality is a way of increasing racial profiling.
Some of those attending the public hearing brought signs with them. One woman had a sign that noted statistics taken from ICE’s website. It costs $152 a day to hold someone in jail, it said, and $4.20 a day to monitor an individual via an electronic device. “We have the technology to be humane,” the sign said.
Liz Ludeman of Manchester wore her message, front and back, on her T-shirt. “End 287G Now,” a reference to the agreement ICE signed with the sheriff, and “Don’t Take Our Neighbors” on the back. She said the reality of what will happen is someone will be driving down the street, is stopped, arrested and “a family is ripped apart.”
The executive committee did not vote on a recommendation because, after a heated discussion, Republicans walked out, leaving them without a quorum.
The full delegation takes up the budget on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Bouchard Building.