NH Republican Controlled Senate Passes Trio of Bills Combatting Illegal Immigration, Including a Ban on Sanctuary Cities

by Seamus Othot | Jan 31, 2025

New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled Senate passed three bills on Thursday in party-line votes intended to combat illegal immigration and aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with its efforts to deport illegal immigrants.

State Sen. Bill Gannon (R-Sandown) introduced the three bills, complementing President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

The first bill, SB 71, outlaws sanctuary city policies, prohibiting any local officials from impeding immigration enforcement efforts.

Any town or city caught violating the law will be subject to prosecution by the state’s Attorney General (AG) and a loss of 25 percent of the total state funds received by the town in the year the violation took place.

Although New Hampshire has no municipalities technically defined as sanctuary cities, some towns, such as Lebanon and Hanover, have “welcoming ordinances” that prohibit local law enforcement from coordinating with ICE.

SB 71 is written to impact those municipalities, not just cities defining themselves as “sanctuary cities.”

SB 62 works in tandem with the ban on sanctuary policies, officially allowing local law enforcement to enter into agreements with ICE to participate in immigration enforcement activities.

The third bill, SB 13, will invalidate all out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to illegal immigrants, making it a criminal offense for illegal immigrants to drive in New Hampshire regardless of the credentials issued to them in other states.

The first offense will be counted simply as a violation, but subsequent offenses will be considered class B misdemeanors.

Currently, 19 states issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, including New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

The law specifically prohibits law enforcement officers from initiating a traffic stop exclusively on suspicion that they might be driving as an illegal immigrant.

All three of the bills passed through the Senate with a party-line 16-8 vote, with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats opposing.

The bills will be sent for consideration in the state’s Republican-controlled house where, if they pass, they will be sent to Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who has previously expressed a desire to end sanctuary policies in the state.

Seamus Othot is a reporter for The Maine Wire. He grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated from The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, where he was able to spend his time reading the great works of Western Civilization. He can be reached at [email protected]

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