What is the difference between federal and local law enforcement?
According to the U.S. Constitution, federal law enforcement agencies enforce laws across the U.S. This includes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Postal Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Marshals Service, and others. This also includes the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -a federal law enforcement agency under DHS.
The U.S. Constitution also contains the Supremacy Clause that dictates that federal law applies throughout the country. It prohibits state, county, and municipal governments from interfering with or controlling the operations of the federal government. ICE (and other federal law enforcement agencies) have authority to act and to enforce federal laws anywhere within the United States. While municipalities cannot obstruct lawful federal operations, not interfering with federal enforcement is not the same as being required to affirmatively participate in federal enforcement.
What is Executive Order 14287?
In April 2025, the President issued Executive Order No. 14287, ordering the Secretary of Homeland Security to identify communities with policies aimed at obstructing federal immigration law enforcement as “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The Secretary was ordered to suspend or terminate federal grants and contracts with those communities, as appropriate. This has the potential to have a significant impact on funding sources used or planned for important local projects.
What do New Hampshire’s anti-sanctuary city laws require?
The New Hampshire Legislature passed two bills in support of prohibiting “sanctuary policies,” including the Anti-Sanctuary City Act. The new laws also require that local law enforcement agencies comply with federal enforcement agencies that are enforcing immigration law. The new laws also do not allow local governments to adopt policies that could prevent local police from cooperating or communicating with federal immigration agencies.
The new statutes are:
- RSA Chapter 106-P: Prohibits the state or a political subdivision from prohibiting or impeding a law enforcement agency from applying for or entering into a federal 287(g) agreement.
- RSA Chapter 106-Q: Prohibits local governmental entities, except where otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, from prohibiting or impeding state or federal law enforcement agencies from complying with Title 8 of the U.S. Code.
- RSA Chapter 106-R: Prohibits state and local governmental entities and law enforcement agencies from maintaining a “sanctuary policy,” as that term is specifically defined by the statute, and establishes requirements concerning immigration detainers, communication, and cooperation with federal immigration agencies.
What is a 287(g) agreement, and has the City of Keene signed one?
Section 287(g) refers to a provision of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act that allows Department of Homeland Security to deputize state and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law. A 287(g) agreement allows trained state or local officers to perform some federal immigration-enforcement functions under ICE direction and supervision, subject to the language in the particular agreement. A local law enforcement agency that signs an agreement can be directed by ICE to perform ICE functions and enforce immigration law anywhere that ICE has jurisdiction—which is anywhere in the United States, not just within that municipality.
The City of Keene has not signed a 287(g) agreement. The New Hampshire State Police and several other New Hampshire municipalities have signed 287(g) agreements with DHS.
What are the Keene Police Department’s operational procedures?
The Keene Police Department operates with clear procedures:
- Every person the Keene Police Department interacts with, regardless of immigration status or any other factor, will be treated fairly, with respect, and with as much dignity as each situation allows.
- The Keene Police Department will comply with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office guidance on fair and impartial policing.
- Officers will never ask a victim of a crime or a witness to a crime about their immigration status.
- If ICE asks for information about a person or a place, the Keene Police Department will provide the information it has.
- If ICE is involved in an emergency situation and requires assistance, the Keene Police Department will respond to assist. If federal immigration officers request assistance in an emergency or other situation involving an immediate public-safety need, the department will respond consistent with its lawful authority, departmental procedures, and the circumstances presented.
- The Keene Police Department’s overarching mission is to treat every person with respect, dignity, and fairness.
How do these roles fit together in Keene?
There are separate but related roles for federal immigration authorities, the State of New Hampshire, the City of Keene, and the Keene Police Department:
- ICE is responsible for enforcing federal immigration law and may conduct lawful federal enforcement activities within Keene. The City of Keene may not obstruct lawful federal enforcement.
- The Keene Police Department has not entered into a 287(g) agreement, and its officers therefore do not have federal immigration-enforcement authority through that program. The department’s role is to act as a municipal law enforcement agency, according to New Hampshire law, that complies with federal and state requirements concerning communication and cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
New Hampshire law limits the City’s ability to have policies that prohibit or impede cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Those statutes do not, however, make the Keene Police Department an arm of ICE or give the Keene Police Department the same authority as federal immigration officers.
The Keene Police Department will continue to carry out its public-safety responsibilities in a manner that treats all people fairly and with dignity, complies with federal and state law, and maintains public trust.
