NH News Briefs 1-8-2026

A large protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement is happening in Merrimack tonight. Hundreds of people are expected to gather at Town Hall at five-30 p-m to speak out against a possible warehouse for detainees that’d be set up in their community. Organizers claim ICE operates above the law and says what officers are doing is inhumane and splits up families. The Washington Post says this facility could process up to 15-hundred detainees as they move toward eventual deportation.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen says she’s deeply disturbed after a woman was shot to death by ICE agents in Minneapolis on Wednesday. In a post on X, Shaneen said “immigration enforcement should be focused on going after violent criminals to make our communities safer, not hindering local law enforcement and sowing chaos.” She also called for full investigation into what happened.

New Hampshire is joining a coalition of more than two dozen states in opposing ammunition background-check requirements in California. The state’s attorneys general are urging a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that blocked the requirements in the state.  Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, a co-leader of the coalition, says “California has spun a web of burdensome laws designed to stop residents from buying ammunition.” Voters in California voted to passed the requirements in 2016.

Hard prison labor for certain inmates has been brought back. The New Hampshire House has passed a bill on Wednesday that creates the sentence for criminals convicted of capital murder and aggravated felonious sexual assault of a child. The ACLU of New Hampshire is taking aim at the bill however, saying forced labor “has enabled human rights abuses and systemic racism to go on for centuries.”

Claremont schools and other potential districts facing financial trouble are getting help. A bill that creates a revolving loan fund to help Claremont and other school districts was passed by the state Senate on Wednesday. Some lawmakers have showed opposition to parts of the bill however, such as offering Claremont students access to school choice through Education Freedom Accounts.