New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte (R) signed a bill banning sanctuary cities in the state.
The bills, HB 511 and SB 62, also support cooperation between state, local, and federal law enforcement.
Under HB 511, law enforcement agencies are required to comply with immigration detainers “if safe to do so and prohibits state and local government entities from adopting sanctuary policies to prohibit or impede the enforcement of federal immigration law.” Law enforcement groups may not investigate an inmates citizenship status unless it is connected to a violation of New Hampshire law.
SB 62 prohibits the impediment of law enforcement agencies from “applying for entry or entering into an agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement to participate in a federal 287(g) program pursuant to 8 U.S.C. section 1357(g).”
“I said from the beginning that we won’t let our state go the way of Massachusetts and their billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis,” Ayotte said, adding, “New Hampshire will never be a sanctuary for criminals, and we will keep working every day to remain the safest state in the nation.”
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “enforce federal law with respect to sanctuary jurisdictions to protect their citizens from dangerous illegal aliens,” a White House fact sheet says.
“The prior administration allowed unchecked millions of aliens to illegally enter the United States,” the order says. “The resulting public safety and national security risks are exacerbated by the presence of, and control of territory by, international cartels and other transnational criminal organizations along the southern border, as well as terrorists and other malign actors who intend to harm the United States and the American people. This invasion at the southern border requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States.”
