The ACLU of New Hampshire is suing the State Police, accusing the agency of being a “black box” when it comes to informing the public about its involvement in federal immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit argues that the New Hampshire Division of State Police is violating the state’s Right-to-Know Law by failing to provide public records in a timely manner. The ACLU said its requests for documents are months old and haven’t received any substantive response from the agency.
The requests are related to the State Police’s 287(g) agreement with ICE, which deputizes troopers to assist federal agents with enforcing immigration law. These contracts offer federal funding to local and state police agencies across the country and authorize them to arrest and interrogate people for immigration warrants or suspected immigration violations while carrying out their standard operations. Local agencies can also issue immigration detainers and transport them to ICE-approved detention centers.
These agreements are becoming more common nationwide, though New Hampshire is the only state in New England to sign on during President Donald Trump’s second term. Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has encouraged local police departments to join.
The ACLU argued that the State Police’s delay of releasing information related to these efforts leaves the public in the dark.
“The full nature and scale of the State Police’s implementation of this program and how it enforces federal immigration law — including how many people the State Police has detained under the program and what factors a trooper may consider in assessing whether there is reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that there has been a violation of federal immigration laws — remains a mystery to the public,” the lawsuit states.
The New Hampshire Department of Safety, which houses the Division of State Police, declined to comment on the story because of the pending lawsuit and referred questions to the attorney general’s office.
“We would not comment on pending litigation, other than to note that it is our understanding that the New Hampshire State Police has not received any funds in connection with its 287(g) agreement,” Michael Garrity, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, said in a statement.
New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law says it exists to “ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people.” Guidance issued in 2024 from Attorney General John Formella instructs government bodies to develop processes that ensure public records requests are handled in a timely manner.
Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said the organization requested documents related to all encounters and detentions of alleged noncitizens by State Police since the agreement was signed and copies of the training materials used by troopers who are certified by ICE to carry out those actions. It also requested reports pertaining to several specific encounters.
“We know that the New Hampshire State Police, which is the largest police agency in the state, has entered into one of these agreements to cooperate with ICE, but at the same time, they are not sharing the information that we believe that they are required to about this program,” Klementowicz said in an interview.
In its reasoning for extending response deadlines by months at a time, State Police cited “current workloads, personnel involved and pending requests submitted prior to yours,” according to the lawsuit.
The ACLU also cited separate legal action from The Boston Globe. Records produced from that case showed a months-long delay in NH State Police corresponding with ICE about the disclosure of records and a failure to produce them for several weeks after ICE approved the release.
When responding to records requests pertaining to immigration and ICE, local police departments are instructed to seek approval from ICE before releasing documents to the public, according to the lawsuit. The ACLU argued in the lawsuit that New Hampshire’s public records law trumps “unilateral directives” from ICE.
New Hampshire State Police signed on to its memorandum with ICE in April 2025. As of September 2025, at least 58 troopers were or had planned to participate in the program, according to the lawsuit.
Statewide, 24 local police departments have signed 287(g) agreements, as have three county sheriff’s offices. Some, like the Carroll and Colebrook police departments, have already received more than $100,000 in federal money for assisting ICE.
