HB 1822-FN

Committee — INEXPEDIENT TO LEGISLATE

Rep. Terry Roy

The majority opposes this bill because it would require state, county, and local law enforcement agencies and correctional facilities to file periodic reports to the state on individuals detained for civil immigration violations, but only when those detentions involve some state or local role. By design, the bill collects data only where local or county agencies interact with federal immigration enforcement while ignoring the substantial immigration enforcement activity carried out solely by federal officers. As a result, any “transparency” it claims to provide would be inherently misleading, overstating the role of local agencies and understating the independent actions of federal authorities, who cannot be compelled by a state statute to provide matching or contextual information. The bill is also part of a growing pattern in leftleaning states of using state and local reporting and process requirements to burden or discourage cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Around the country, similar measures have been advanced that mandate local reports, public disclosures, or special approval processes whenever local agencies work with ICE or participate in 287(g) agreements, often coupled with political rhetoric aimed at stigmatizing such cooperation. These efforts do not change federal law or federal priorities; instead, they are designed to increase the political and administrative cost of assisting federal officers, and to create a onesided narrative that frames any local participation as suspect or extraordinary. In practice, this bill would impose new reporting mandates on already stretched law enforcement and correctional agencies without improving public safety or the fair administration of justice. Agencies would be required to compile, verify, and submit specialized immigrationrelated data that is incomplete by design, while federal authorities, who control the underlying immigration records and enforcement decisions, remain under no obligation to share corresponding information with the state. The result would be a bureaucratic reporting regime that generates politicized talking points rather than accurate, comprehensive information, and that risks discouraging legitimate, lawful cooperation with federal immigration officers in appropriate cases. Because this bill produces a misleading and partial data set, injects statelevel political pressure into lawful cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and aligns with a broader national strategy to use state law to interfere indirectly with federal immigration efforts, the majority finds that this bill is unnecessary, biased in its design, and contrary to the interests of effective law enforcement in New Hampshire. Vote 7-6. 34 27 FEBRUARY 2026