In its first full session of 2025, the Republican-led New Hampshire Senate moved to ban “sanctuary policies” in the state and stiffen penalties for fentanyl offenses. For Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who campaigned on the promise to impose tougher drug laws and deter undocumented migrants from settling here, Thursday’s party-line votes amounted to early policy wins in a year when the state budget is expected to dominate debate in Concord.
The Senate votes on the bills — which now move to the New Hampshire House — also come just days after Ayotte called on lawmakers to speed such policies to her desk.
“I want you to send me the ban on sanctuary policies; I want you to send me tougher penalties for drug dealers,” Ayotte said Saturday in a speech at the New Hampshire Republican Party’s annual meeting in Meredith.
Republicans in the Senate obliged, though not without resistance from Democrats, who argued the bills were unnecessary and potentially expensive.
“This is a solution looking for a problem — one that forces taxpayers to pick up the bill,” Concord Sen. Tara Reardon said, of the anti-sanctuary bill, Senate Bill 71.
Under that bill, local governments would be barred from “prohibiting or impeding” the enforcement of federal immigration laws; the state attorney general could sue cities or towns that failed to comply.
“We in New Hampshire don’t want sanctuary cities because they are going to bring in an element we don’t want: We want public safety,” said Republican Sen. Bill Gannon of Sandown, the bill’s lead sponsor.
The argument that outlawing “sanctuary policies” improves public safety is common among Republicans, though some federal data show crime rates are lower among undocumented immigrants than among U.S. born citizens.
Sen. Sue Prentiss, a Democrat from Lebanon — one of the few New Hampshire communities with a “welcoming” ordinance that would be directly implicated by the ban on sanctuary policies — said that three undocumented people charged and convicted of crimes her city in the past five years were turned over to federal immigration agencies.
“Any assertion that we are welcoming and harboring has just not played out in the numbers,” Prentiss said.
The sanctuary bill was the highest profile bill passed by the state Senate Thursday, but a separate proposal adopted the same day, Senate Bill 62, would allow police to formalize immigration enforcement agreements with federal agencies.
Another bill, Senate Bill 13, aims to forbid undocumented immigrants from driving here, by invalidating drivers licenses issued by other states to unlawful residents. New Hampshire doesn't issue licenses to undocumented immigrants, but 30 states do. Under this bill, police could take action against drivers from the 10 states where a non-citizen immigration status is displayed on drivers licenses.
The two fentanyl bills that passed Thursday would boost mandatory sentences for people charged with possession of fentanyl with the intent to sell, or who knowingly provide someone with a drug that causes a deadly overdose.
Under the first bill, Senate Bill 13, anyone possessing 20 grams or more of fentanyl could face at least a 3½-year prison term.
“Twenty grams of fentanyl is 10,000 lethal doses,” said Republican Sen Darryl Abbas of Salem.
Under the second bill, a person who provided a Schedule 1 drug that caused an overdose would face a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.
Senate Democrats argued the approach was wrong-headed. Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua noted she has a “close relative” who is addicted to fentanyl.
“Spending more funds to incarcerate people will come at the expense of treatment. I know it will, and in some cases it will increase property taxes as well,” Rosenwald said.
Ayotte was far more sanguine about the implications of the bill, which would codify one of her top campaign promises..
“We will ensure fentanyl dealers trafficking poison into our state are found, arrested, and locked up,” she said in a post on X Thursday afternoon.
