Granite State Republican Kelly Ayotte successfully ran for governor on a campaign warning voters, “Don’t MASS Up New Hampshire.” And now the Boston City Council is giving her the chance to put those words into action.
On Wednesday, Boston’s all-Democrat council voted 13-0 to reaffirm the city’s commitment to its Boston Trust Act sanctuary policies.
Specifically, Boston police are banned from holding an illegal immigrant solely on the basis of a civil detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They are also not allowed to inform ICE when an illegal immigrant is being released from jail.
For example, ICE announced earlier this week it had to track down Julio Esteban Batista-Castillo, 24, an illegal immigrant who had been arraigned in Roxbury District Court “on multiple assault and battery charges, kidnapping, malicious destruction of property, breaking and entering and home invasion.
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“Batista has been accused of very serious crimes, including assault and battery involving strangulation and a firearm,” said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “So ERO Boston lodged an immigration detainer against him with the Roxbury District Court — a simple request for law enforcement officers to hold him in custody for a short time so our officers could arrest him in a safe, controlled setting. Unfortunately, the detainer was not honored, putting everyone in the community and our officers at risk.”
Boston’s city council reiterated its support for this policy in response to the election of Donald Trump and his calls for “mass deportations” of illegal immigrants. Ayotte responded the next day with a statement of her own.
“Our neighbors to the south seem intent on proving that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. As they struggle with a billion-dollar illegal immigrant crisis, they are instead choosing to double down,” Ayotte said.
“Here in New Hampshire, we are going to ban sanctuary policies and give law enforcement the tools to work together to ensure this crisis never comes to our towns.”
Part of that work is passing a ban on sanctuary cities in the Granite State. One such bill passed the state Senate last year, but died in the closely-divided New Hampshire House, thanks to unanimous opposition from Democrats.
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Ayotte and her fellow Republicans made the sanctuary city issue a central part of their campaigns. Voters responded by giving Ayotte a nine-point victory over Democrat Joyce Craig and handing Republicans a 222-178 majority in the House.
“With a GOP majority in the House and Senate, I look forward to working with Senate President (Sharon) Carson (R-Londonderry) and Speaker (Sherman) Packard (R-Londonderry) to get the sanctuary city ban passed as quickly as possible and on my desk to sign it,” Ayotte said.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts continues making headlines as it defends sanctuary policies and deals with the consequences.
Last month, ERO Boston released a press statement announcing three separate arrests of illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of sex crimes:
— An illegal immigrant from Guatemala arrested on charges of raping a child and indecent assault and battery against a minor in Great Barrington.
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— An illegal immigrant from Colombia charged with child rape, statutory rape, and aggravated rape of a minor in Pittsfield.
— A third arrest, this one in Methuen, though the illegal immigrant was convicted of child rape in Brazil and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Those stories haven’t stopped Massachusetts Democrats from embracing sanctuary policies.
Last month, elected officials in Somerville voted to reaffirm itself as a “Welcoming Community” — meaning officials will continue the city’s “voluntary involvement in federal immigration enforcement.”
“The Somerville Police Department shall not take part in or assist with federal immigration enforcement operations,” the resolution states.
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And Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has said her administration will “use every tool” to thwart the incoming Trump administration’s enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Asked about Democrats in the legislature who might be re-thinking their support for sanctuary cities in the wake of last month’s elections, Ayotte said they should.
“I heard loud and clear on the campaign trail that this is an important issue to the voters. It’s important to keep people safe, and it’s also important that we follow and enforce the laws,” she said. “I would welcome any Democrats who want to support this bill because public safety should be a bipartisan issue.”
Michael Graham is the managing editor of InsideSources.com.
CONCORD, N.H. – New Hampshire lawmakers have moved to reject a Republican-backed proposal to launch an impeachment inquiry into the lone Democrat on the state’s five-member Executive Council.
On Friday, a key committee of lawmakers delivered a unanimous 17-0 vote against an impeachment inquiry into Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill of Lebanon, N.H.
The vote on House Resolution 41 followed an abbreviated public hearing, after the bill’s sponsor withdrew his support for the proposal and instead asked lawmakers on the committee to recommend killing it.
The push for Liot Hill’s impeachment was led by Representative Joe Sweeney, a Salem Republican and the deputy majority leader in the New Hampshire House.
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At issue were several emails Liot Hill had sent from her official account to help a partisan law firm identify voters impacted by a new state law. The law tightened voter ID requirements for absentee ballots.
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Sweeney had previously called Liot Hill’s correspondence “political lawfare run out of a taxpayer-funded inbox.” In December, a review by the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office found that Liot Hill’s conduct was not illegal and did not constitute a misuse of office, clearing the complaint against her.
Reached by the Globe on Friday, Sweeney, who was not present at the public hearing, said in a statement he preferred to let voters decide whether Liot Hill should continue to serve in the upcoming November election.
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“After reviewing the matter and hearing the discussion, I believe the appropriate course is to move forward and allow the voters and the political process to do their work,” he said.
“The purpose of filing the resolution was to ensure that the constitutional questions raised were addressed seriously and transparently,” he said, noting that he stands by the process and the decision to recommend killing the resolution.
In an interview, Liot Hill said she was pleased with the unanimous vote from the House Judiciary Committee.
“The committee vote, I think, sends the message that there was no merit to this,” she said.
The proposal now heads to the full House of Representatives, which has the power to approve the committee’s recommendation to reject it.
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Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.
A woman has been arrested in connection with the death of her baby whose body was found in a pond in Manchester, New Hampshire last year. Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, is now charged with reckless second-degree murder.
The New Hampshire Attorney General said Juma was arrested for “causing the death of Baby Jane “Grace” Doe, her child, under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”
On March 27, 2025, the baby’s body was found floating in the water at Pine Island Park in Manchester. The baby’s death was treated as suspicious following an autopsy.
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Investigators have not released any information about how they made the arrest or how the baby died.
Hepay Juma, 26, of Manchester, NH, is charged in connection with the death of her baby.
Manchester, NH police
At the time, Manchester Police Chief Peter Marr said the baby’s death was “extremely tragic.”
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Police asked the public for help after the baby’s body was discovered. They wanted to know if anyone saw someone discarding anything in the water in the previous 14 days, or if anyone knew a pregnant woman who gave birth during that time who needed medical help.
A funeral was held for baby Grace Doe last May, and the public was invited to pay their respects. “The way she was discarded is heartbreaking, and it is important that we give her a proper farewell,” Chief Marr said last year.
The baby was named Grace by police “to celebrate the kindness extended to her by those who refuse to let her life go unrecognized.”
Juma is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Manchester District Court.
