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.