By Sen. Sharon Carson
The illegal immigration surge has negatively impacted our state’s communities and has put our safety at risk. The people who are flooding into our country are not individuals who are searching for better opportunities in the United States. These people are criminals that are looking to hurt Granite Staters. Protecting our borders, blocking sanctuary cities, and strengthening our bail laws will continue making New Hampshire the safest state in the nation.
Here in New Hampshire, we have witnessed the results of our unmanned borders. Joe Biden has allowed our borders to be wide open and has made every state a border state. The Northern Border Alliance Task Force data shows there were over 7,000 illegal interactions across the Swanton Sector (the New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire borders) in 2023 which increased by 5,000 interactions from the previous year. This outlines that there are serious problems on both borders. Our neighboring state, Maine, has also dealt with illegal immigrants at their borders. On February 28th, 2024, three illegal immigrants were trying to enter the United States via the Canada-Maine border. We need sufficient funding and resources to keep our borders safe if the federal government refuses to do so. This is why New Hampshire allocated $1.4 million to the Northern Border Alliance to help combat this problem and keep our communities safe.
Other states in the region are struggling with illegal immigration every day. Look no further than New York City where Mayor Eric Adams has called for a halt in accepting any additional migrants. New York City, a self-proclaimed sanctuary city, has had enough of illegal immigrants. On February 1st, 2024, an illegal immigrant attacked New York City police officers and was released mere hours after being arrested. New York tied the hands of their law enforcement by only allowing catch and release style detainment due to New York’s practically nonexistent bail requirements. New York is seeing the consequences of their sanctuary city policies in real time and are reaping what they have sown.
This practice will not be tolerated in New Hampshire. There is no room for illegal criminals to set up shop in our state to do harm, or worse, to our citizens. Our police force needs to be able to work with ICE agents and remove these criminals from our state. We support our law enforcement and trust them to protect our communities. Funding our police and ensuring that they have the tools they need prevents the national crime wave from threatening Granite Staters. Republicans’ top priority is keeping New Hampshire the safest state in the nation and stopping the overflow of illegal migrants. However, other states have been given a front row seat to this immigration disaster.
On February 23rd, 2024, an illegal immigrant murdered Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student from the University of Georgia. Athens, Georgia is a self-proclaimed sanctuary city. On February 28th, 2024, an illegal immigrant murdered a 2-year-old boy in Langley Park, Maryland. The illegal immigrant who committed the murder was released from prison twice already and ordered to leave the country. Other southern border states, such as Texas, have been targeted and overrun with illegal immigrants daily. Even in New Hampshire, an illegal mass murderer from Brazil was arrested last August in Rye.
The illegal mayhem gripping our country right now is out of control, and it needs to stop. These examples all show that sanctuary city policies and lax bail requirements do not protect communities. New Hampshire Republicans are the only ones fighting for our communities because we know there is a problem and we do not want illegal chaos to be unleashed on our state. We are fighting to ban sanctuary cities and not allow them to be hubs for illegal criminals. We are also working on reforming our bail system so that illegal criminals are not expedited back out onto our streets like they are in New York. Actions have consequences and if there are illegal immigrants coming to the Granite State, there will be serious penalties.
Additional funding and resources helps put an end to the mass surge in illegal immigration. We cannot sit idly by as our state could unknowingly houses illegal criminals due to lax border laws. Republican Senators in Concord understand the dire need to protect our state. We are fighting to protect our borders, block sanctuary cities in New Hampshire, and improve our bail system to keep illegal immigrants out of our communities. We are doing everything we can to sound the alarm if our colleagues across the aisle refuse to do so. This is a real problem and Republicans will always fight to keep New Hampshire safe.
Senate Majority Leader Sharon Carson (R-Londonderry) represents Senate District 14