Latest news with #Section287GTaskForceAgreement
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-sanctuary city bill heads to governor's desk
A decade-long campaign by Republican legislative leaders and governors to outlaw sanctuary city policies in New Hampshire reached the bill-drafting finish line Thursday. By a party line vote, the state Senate voted 15-8 to endorse a House-passed bill (HB 511) that would prevent any city or town from adopting an ordinance that stated its local law enforcement could not cooperate with federal Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officials inquiring about a possible, illegal immigrant. The final actions have presented Gov. Kelly Ayotte with three bills to sign on the topic which also include: • The Senate's cooperate with feds bill (SB 71): This would keep local officials from blocking police or correction officials from signing pacts with federal immigration authorities under Section 287G Task Force Agreement. • Senate's anti-sanctuary city bill (SB 62): Last week, the House of Representative decided to combine this bill with the one above dealing with cooperation with federal officials. In a statement, Ayotte suggested she's looking forward to signing them all. 'By banning sanctuary cities, we're ensuring New Hampshire doesn't go the way of Massachusetts and their billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis,' Ayotte said. 'Thank you to the House and Senate for sending these bills to my desk — together, we're keeping our great state the safest in the nation.' State Police, sheriffs in three counties and police in six towns have already applied or received approval from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the cooperative agreements with Gov. Ayotte's blessing. Legally, the governor could sign all of these and the last one she signed would undo any conflicts with the two bills she previously signed. Safety with justice and fairness House and Senate supporters insist all three bills are compatible with one another. Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell, R-Hampstead, recalled as a new state senator in 2016 she had authored one of the first bills against sanctuary cities. 'This Legislature has never given local authorities (the power) to ignore federal law,' Birdsell said. 'I never thought this would be controversial. I never thought this would take us nearly a decade to get this through.' Sen. Tara Reardon, D-Concord, said relationships local police departments have worked on for years with their legal immigrant communities could worsen. 'I believe in fairness, due process and human dignity and I am deeply concerned about the practices and policies that seem to try to sidestep these principles,' Reardon said. 'We all want safe communities, but that safety must be rooted in justice and fairness.' Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Bill Gannon, R-Sandown, has held down point for this issue in the Senate for the past four years. Former Gov. Chris Sununu had also supported the cause, but in 2023 the narrowly divided House of Representatives rejected a final deal on the issue by a small margin. What's Next: All three bills must go through the enrolling stage where legislative lawyers ensure there aren't any technical flaws in them before they go onto the Ayotte's desk. Prospects: The only unknown is the date and time that Ayotte will choose for a photo opportunity signing ceremony for the bills. klandrigan@
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Anti-sanctuary city, ICE cooperation package nears finish line
Along party lines, the House of Representatives approved a combination bill that would ban anti-sanctuary city policies and make local officials honor cooperative agreements their county jail warden or local police chiefs made with federal immigration authorities. House Majority Floor Leader Joseph Sweeney, R-Salem, was the architect of the new proposal that combines two bills that the Senate and House had separately passed into one proposal (SB 62 amended). 'If you are in New Hampshire illegally, you are not welcome in the State of New Hampshire,' Sweeney said. Rep. David Meuse, D-Portsmouth, said this could lead to higher local property taxes since the state and federal governments aren't going to cover any of the community costs to enter into a so-called Section 287 G Task Force Agreement. 'This not only seeks to reduce local control to a point where it can be drowned in a bathtub, but it forces us to find cities and counties that refuse to knuckle under,' Meuse said. 'This is far from a trivial agreement in terms of time and dollars.' State Police, sheriffs with three counties and police in six towns have already applied or received approval from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the cooperative agreements with Gov. Kelly Ayotte's blessing. The final vote of 202-160 was highly partisan. Rep. Dale Girard, D-Claremont, was the only House Democrat to support it and Rep. Brian Taylor, R-Freedom, was the only House Republican to oppose it. Last February, the House had endorsed a different but related anti-sanctuary city bill (HB 511) by a 351-6 roll call vote. Since then, at the behest of President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with DHS has staged raids across the country to round up suspected illegal migrants and move to deport them. Trump has spoken to officials from several countries about housing the deported individuals and endorsed placing the most serious criminals at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. House Democrats drop support In response, New Hampshire House Democratic leaders declared the state should not cooperate at all with Trump officials in this manner. Last month, a test vote on the issue reverted to the usual partisanship as it passed 201-161. New Hampshire has no sanctuary cities, but Sweeney said as written his bill applies to the 'welcoming' ordinances that officials in Hanover and Lebanon have adopted. 'This is a solution in search of a problem,' said Rep. Alissandra Murray, D-Manchester. Rep. Jennifer Rhodes, R-Winchester, stressed that it doesn't force all law enforcement and prison wardens to enter into the cooperative agreements. Rep. Buzz Scherr, D-Portsmouth, tried to amend the bill to require that local law enforcement cooperating with ICE must identify themselves in public, give their badge numbers and the agency they represent. 'When ICE goes to detain someone they go in masks, their faces are covered, they don't tell people who they are,' Scherr said. 'If New Hampshire law enforcement officials are going to participate under an act of ICE, New Hampshire doesn't want those people being incognito,' Scherr said. 'We shouldn't have something that feels like a kidnapping situation for those who are watching it.' House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Chairman Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, said he'd agree with Scherr on most occasions, but sometimes local police could be asked to help federal officials take down violent criminals who could threaten to harm their loved ones. 'We want to give them the safety for themselves and their families so they can continue to do the job.' The House rejected Scherr's amendment, 199-161. What's Next: The bill heads to the State Senate and if it agrees with the two-bill, combination platter, the package goes to Ayotte's desk. Prospects: The Republican-led Legislature has never been closer to making an anti-sanctuary city bill become a reality. The only thing that could stop this is an unrelated dispute between House and Senate leaders on something serious enough to put all kinds of other bills at risk. klandrigan@
