New England states, including Maine, are more likely to be used in President Trump’s mass deportation effort as the government begins detaining immigrants in a New Hampshire federal prison.
New England states, including Maine, are more likely to be used in President Trump’s mass deportation effort as the government begins detaining immigrants in a New Hampshire federal prison. The ACLU of New Hampshire last week confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is detaining immigrants in a federal prison in northern New Hampshire – despite the federal government never confirming it had plans to do so. According to the LA Times, more than 500 detainees could be held at the prison facility.
This confirmation follows a leaked document from the Federal Bureau of Prisons showing plans to detain immigrants at FCI Berlin, a medium-security prison in Berlin, NH. FCI Berlin could be used to house detainees currently at the Cumberland County Jail (CCJ) to free up beds and keep ICE detainees moving through Portland.
As part of its processing and removal operations, ICE detains people who are noncitizens, often for prolonged periods of time stretching weeks, months, and years. People being detained are then transferred between facilities hastily and with no regard for the lives of those detained. As of Monday, March 10, 2025, there were 61 people held in ICE custody at CCJ.
A lack of humane conditions and civil rights violations have historically plagued immigration detention centers, and FCI Berlin will likely be no different. According to the leaked memo, the Bureau of Prisons states that FCI Berlin would take a “substantial amount of preparation and resources…including but not limited to additional funding for staffing, food, utilities, clothing, training and other necessary items.” The extensive funding needed for FCI Berlin and other detention expansion comes as cuts are being made to other parts of immigration system, including the court system and adjudications at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This will inevitably lead to even more prolonged detention and risks to people’s safety and rights.
The leaked document spurred a Freedom of Information Act request from the ACLU of New Hampshire seeking more information on the use of this facility to hold people in ICE custody, policy memoranda, detention standards, contracts, and other documents.
“The government should not be using federal prisons to support the president’s mass deportation efforts,” said Carol Garvan, legal director of the ACLU of Maine. “The federal government itself acknowledged that FCI Berlin would require a ‘substantial amount of preparation,’ yet just weeks later they have already begun detaining people there. We have strong concerns about the inhumane treatment of people in ICE custody, and we will not stand by while our region is used to carry out these cruel policies.”
“Immigration detention is unjust, inhumane, and unnecessary, and ILAP joins partners across New England in condemning the Trump administration’s expansion of immigrant detention in our region,” said Melissa Brennan, co-legal director of Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project. “This plan, like the mass incarceration of immigrants anywhere, poses serious risks to peoples’ health, safety, and legal rights. ILAP calls on our elected officials at all levels of government to take action to stop the expansion of detention here and across the nation and to reject the administration’s vitriolic and false rhetoric and actions to criminalize immigrant communities.”
