Overview
- Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told senators DHS had worked with Gov. Kelly Ayotte and shared an economic impact summary, a claim Ayotte rejected before receiving the memo hours after the hearing and posting it publicly.
- The DHS materials describe converting a 324,000‑square‑foot Merrimack warehouse into a short‑stay processing center holding people for roughly three to seven days, with projected costs of $158 million for retrofits and $146 million for the first three years of operations.
- A broader DHS plan outlines eight mega‑centers and 16 processing sites with capacity for about 92,600 people and an estimated $38.3 billion in spending, with ICE targeting nationwide activation by Nov. 30.
- Local and regional pushback is intensifying, with Merrimack officials and residents voicing concerns over detainee conditions, local services and tax revenue, and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey urging Ayotte to block the project.
- There is no public record that DHS has completed the Merrimack property purchase, while Pennsylvania records show DHS bought a 1.3 million‑square‑foot warehouse in Schuylkill County that officials expect to become a 7,500‑bed ICE facility.