MANCHESTER,.N.H-Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is “demanding” New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte oppose federal plans to turn a large warehouse in Merrimack into a detention center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Healey made the comment Friday when she called ICE’s plans for the facility “outrageous and absolutely the wrong move for New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and our entire region.”
However, Governor Kelly Ayotte issued a response published by New Hampshire Journal in which she said, “Get your own house in order Maura.”
This latest back and forth between the two governor comes as documents from the Department of Homeland Security were released Thursday by Governor Ayotte’s office which claimed that retrofitting the Merrimack building for a detention center would create 1,252 jobs, and once up and running it would support 265 jobs for a total economic benefit of $151 million.
It should be noted that the documents included references to the facility being in Oklahoma and mentions the state’s sales and income tax revenue, neither of which New Hampshire has.
The Governor’s office received the documents late Thursday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons testified before a U.S. Senate Committee that his office had been in contact with Gov.Ayotte’s office, but Ayotte maintains she nor anyone in her office has spoken with officials and additional reporting has verified that DHS officials were actually in talks with officials from the State’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, who failed to inform Ayotte’s office of the talks.
