Stopping ICE warehouse jails -- example/success
Stopping ICE warehouse jails
- Wed, Apr 8 2026 at 3:02 PM
Stronger With Immigrants
Dear Mark,
As a Quaker organization, AFSC believes that everyone deserves to have their human and civil rights respected. Our immigration system should uphold these rights at all times. It should be welcoming, dignified, and just. No one belongs in a cage.
But across the country, the Trump administration is planning to convert warehouses into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. If carried out, tens of thousands more immigrants would be held in warehouses across the country. The facilities would essentially function as concentration camps.
AFSC is working with communities and grassroots organizers to stop this from happening. In the town of Merrimack, New Hampshire, we succeeded.
Residents of Merrimack first learned of plans to build an ICE warehouse jail in their town through a Washington Post story published on Christmas Eve. Within days, they were organizing. AFSC was there to support their efforts.
Community members reached out to town officials. Over 1,200 people showed up to the first town meeting—extraordinary for a town with a population of 26,000. Not a single voice rose in support of the facility. Residents held protests, and people from across New Hampshire joined them. Peacekeepers who had been trained by AFSC over the years helped ensure demonstrations remained safe.
Community members built pressure from the town hall to state legislators, members of Congress, and the governor. Ultimately, Gov. Kelly Ayotte traveled to Washington to meet directly with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE. When she returned, she announced that the Merrimack facility would not move forward.
The people of New Hampshire had successfully stopped an ICE facility from opening. Public pressure worked.
Across the country, other communities are stopping similar proposals from moving forward. We know that when we come together, we can win.
Thank you for all the ways you support our efforts. And thank you, too, for the ways you show up in your own community. This victory is one example of what your support makes possible. Together, we will keep working toward our vision of a just, peaceful, and welcoming world for all.
In solidarity,
Amy Gottlieb
U.S. Migration Director
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