For a brief second, Dec. 4 was a normal morning for Moriah Morgan. The day before, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local police had detained her boyfriend, housemates and neighbors. As the only U.S. citizen living in the house, Moriah was the only person left.
“I forgot that that had happened the day before. Like, it felt like everything was normal. And then I just remembered it wasn't. And I remember it was just weird because I've never even been alone,” she said. “And then one day, there's just no one.”
Moriah witnessed one of the biggest ICE operations in New Hampshire — the arrest of seven people in Twin Mountain with assistance from local police. As deportations have increased six times during the Trump administration, the aftermath raises questions on the role of local police in immigration enforcement.
Moriah met her boyfriend last May while they were working together in the kitchen at an Applebee’s. He goes by Rocky, like the movies, which he loves. Rocky is from India, but Moriah said his immigration status didn’t really come up, other than stories about his life and moving to the U.S.
The couple moved in together in Twin Mountain, a village in the town of Carroll. They had three other college-aged housemates, but Moriah said they didn’t really interact. She said it was pretty chill, until the morning of Dec. 3 when Moriah woke up around 8 a.m. Someone had let the police in and they were checking everyone’s ID.
“They took my ID and then they just gave it right back, but they didn't give anybody else's back,” she said. “The last thing that I ever heard from Rocky was he told me he loved me and that was it. I never saw him since.”
Eventually, the group was taken to the ICE field office in Manchester, and was later detained at the Strafford County Jail in Dover.
This is the only time Carroll has been asked to assist ICE in an operation, according to Lt. Ian MacMillan of the Carroll Police Department.
He said his job as a local officer is unique. Carroll is one of New Hampshire’s smallest towns, with a population just shy of 900 people. But it grows to between three and six times as many throughout the year with students, seasonal workers, winter sports enthusiasts and tourists. It’s about an hour and a half away from the Canadian border and it’s not unusual to see visitors from Quebec.
Like a dozen other local police departments in New Hampshire, Carroll has a 287(g) agreement with ICE, which deputizes local police officers to enforce federal immigration law. MacMillan and the chief decided it would be better for the town to work with ICE. All four full-time officers in Carroll decided to opt into the federal training and put a policy in place on how to carry out 287(g) actions shortly after signing an agreement.
“I knew that we would potentially be a target for ICE based upon our immigrant and visa population,” MacMillan said. “I'd really rather cooperate with ICE rather than be adversarial with them, and then just come in and do whatever the hell they want.”
But he said this hasn’t been an issue in his town. He said ICE officers have been very professional.
MacMillan said the Carroll Police decided to call ICE in December because of several run-ins with one of Rocky and Moriah’s Housemates. According to police documents reviewed by NHPR, the most serious one was a DUI arrest on Thanksgiving. The housemate received a court summons and was released.
“When we started having the problems with the DUIs in a close proximity and the property damage raised a safety concern,” MacMillan said.
The department asked ICE about the housemate’s status. ICE said the housemate had allegedly overstayed his work visa and lived with several people who may have done the same thing — which would be a civil infraction.
Less than a week later, ICE asked Carroll Police for help.
Of the seven people arrested on Dec. 2, only two had criminal charges on their record from the Carroll PD. Like most immigration detainees in New Hampshire, Rocky has no criminal history in the town.
MacMillan said this situation was unusual. He said his department hasn’t faced significant immigration issues and has better things to do with taxpayer money than enforcing immigration laws.
He submitted a request to the federal government in January for reimbursement of the total amount of the operation — a little more than $900.
“We bring in almost 6,000 visa students and other employees. We could run immigration stuff all day long. I don't have time for that. Especially if they're being fine. Like they're here, they're working, they're polite. We never have any issues,” he said.
ICE did not confirm or deny the action in December. Instead, a spokesperson said they conduct enforcement throughout the state.
“As part of its routine operations, ICE arrests aliens who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws. All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removed from the United States, regardless of nationality,” the statement said.
In the month since the arrests, the role of immigration enforcement is an ongoing topic of contention. Democrats proposed several bills to address concerns this session. The ACLU of New Hampshire sued ICE for the documents it uses to train local officers from the 13 agencies with 287(g) agreements.
ACLU Legal Director Gilles Bissonnette thinks the training should be available for officers to reference as needed, especially since the New Hampshire Department of Justice already publishes its Law Enforcement Manual online.
“I think ICE and the federal government can take a page from New Hampshire here, like New Hampshire has become relatively transparent with respect to how our law enforcement here are doing their work,” he said.
ICE has not responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Moriah’s housemates and neighbors have since returned, but Rocky is still detained. The adjustment has been hard for her as she works to pay for his lawyer.
She said one of the hardest changes was when Rocky was moved from the Strafford County Jail in Dover to FCI Berlin, a medium-security federal prison. Although Berlin is much closer to Carroll than Dover, she said Rocky feels further away now. In Strafford, they could pay $7 for a 30 minute video call, but that stopped being an option when he was transferred. He has a limited amount of minutes available a month, which means about 15 minutes a day to talk with Moriah.
It’s been hard for her, but she said she’s grounded by her job, her coworkers, her faith, calls with family in Florida, and how Rocky is dealing with it all.
“He's not bitter, he's not angry. He doesn't treat people badly because he's in this situation. He's still kind and patient all the time. Even though this is traumatizing for him, he makes it worth it,” she said. “I would never choose something else besides fighting for him.”
Rocky’s court date is scheduled for this week.
