Dear Gov. Ayotte: As you well know, it has always been the task of New Hampshire State Police and local law enforcement to arrest people committing crimes. It is disingenuous of you to infer otherwise. You also know that ICE regards immigrants without proper papers as criminals. I hope you have budgeted for counseling for the state and local officers who will potentially be asked to take neighbors, parents and families into custody for ICE. Even ICE employs chaplains to counsel officers affected by what their jobs demand that they do. Our state and local officers who “partner” with ICE will potentially be asked to arrest their neighbors, fellow church members, chefs and kitchen staff at local restaurants, construction workers, summer camp and resort staff and students in ESL classes knowing they could be “detained” anywhere from local jails to Guantanamo without access to legal representation. These “round-ups” of immigrants will now be brought home to us all. If empathy and Christian charity have not been enough, perhaps now we will wake up to how much these immigrants contribute to our state and local economies and to our communities in general.

Barbara Laverick

Wolfeboro