ICE melts in Grafton County
Grafton County Sheriff Jillian Myers has pulled out of the Memorandum of Agreement she signed in March, 2025, with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The MOA authorized ICE to delegate state and local law enforcement officers under Statute 287(g) the authority to perform specified immigrant officer functions under ICE’s direction and oversight.
Sheriff Myers had signed the ICE MOA without the knowledge of the Grafton County Commissioners, or the tax-paying general public. During a meeting with the commissioners, I warned the sheriff that her doing so would lead to her department losing the trust of community members, and could also damage her reputation personally. At that time, she seemed defensive of her decision, and said she had joined with ICE so that her department would have more information; also so that any immigration detainees lodged in the county jail would be picked up by ICE sooner rather than later, and would not languish behind bars unnecessarily. She also said that if she learned of so much as one incident of racial profiling within her department, she would immediately leave the ICE program.
Now, Sheriff Myers should not have to worry about increased insurance rates for the county, or having one of her deputies personally sued after working with ICE, or not having her department represented in court by the federal government after a potential lawsuit over 287(g). Nor should she have to fear the loss of community trust or cooperation in true criminal cases where witnesses are needed to testify.
Perhaps her reason for dropping out of the ICE MOA is because she’s up for re-election this year. Regardless, I am pleased that Sheriff Myers has done the right thing, and very proud to have been one of hundreds of other community members and voters who have pressured her about 287(g). Standing up and speaking out against abject cruelty and Federal rogue enforcement has paid off for our entire County. I can only hope that the 17 other state, county and local law enforcement agencies in NH currently still working with ICE under 287(g) will take note and do the right thing too.