At least five New Hampshire Police departments have filed for a stipend from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for signing agreements to partner with the agency to enforce immigration law.
ICE offers local law enforcement agencies that join the 287(g) program about $100,000 for a vehicle, plus additional funding for infrastructure updates, equipment per each trained officer and the number of arrests, called a “performance award.”
“We’re on a very tight budget. If I can save the taxpayer money in order to get equipment to operate day to day, that's helpful,” said Candia Police Chief Chad Shevlin. “We look at all kinds of grants, not just through this program.”
Candia is one of three departments that have received funds from ICE. The others include Colebrook and Caroll, while Epping police and the Belknap County Sheriff’s Office are waiting on theirs. The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office decided to not file for the stipend.
NHPR is waiting to hear back from the remaining nine departments, including the state police, about their status.
Stipend for participating
In Colebrook, police have made two immigration arrests. They filed for both the ICE stipend and reimbursement for the officers’ time making those arrests. Chief Paul Rella plans on using at least $40,000 from their stipend to replace the department's handheld radios.
“Some of them aren't functioning properly, and they're so outdated that they can't be fixed,” he said. “That's just not in a small budget at all, and that’s why we’ve had the same radios for 20 years.”
Other departments say they plan on using the funding for IT upgrades, communications, holding cell security and body cameras.
Candia Police Chief Shevlin said the department received $115,000, which is a little over a tenth of their annual operating budget. They have three officers that completed the 287(g) training, but have made no immigration arrests.
Reimbursements for time
Down the line, if Candia does make an immigration arrest, they are eligible to file for reimbursements to cover the officers’ time. The original agreement did not have the option to file for reimbursement, so Belknap County Sheriff Bill Wright said the change is helpful.
“I think that's a good opportunity for our personnel to be able to make a little extra money,” he said. “But at the same time, it also shows that the county is not losing anything. My personnel still are required to put in their 40 hours in a week.”
The Rockingham Sheriff’s Office was eligible for the stipend and for reimbursements, but decided to not file for it.
“Our knee jerk reaction is we didn't want to look like we were incentivized by money to participate in the program,” said Major Christopher Bashaw, “because we agreed to participate in the program before there was any discussion of incentives or money being offered for reimbursement or equipment.”
He added that his office is not using the 287(g) program enough to make it worth the time spent filing for reimbursements. But that might change if they arrest more people under the program.
‘Not broad immigration enforcement’
Nearly a year into signing on to partner with ICE, several departments, including the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, have added sections to their Standard Operating Procedures on taking immigration calls.
“It's not a broad immigration enforcement or random activity, like what I'm seeing a lot on the news,” Shevlin, Candia’s police chief, said. “It applies to the individuals involved in the criminal justice system already throughout our normal law enforcement duties.”
Similarly, Belknap County sheriff Bill Wright said despite some political tensions about his department’s participation, the program has given his officers additional tools to enforce the law, regardless of politics.
“During the Biden administration, these laws were exactly the same. There's nothing new. But he allowed the processes to be different,” he said. “We still had contact with illegal aliens here in Belknap County. Difference was, ICE agents wouldn't come up to make the arrest and they didn't offer us 287(g).”
