New Hampshire

N.H. weighs felony-level offense to stop illegal immigrants from renting an apartment – The Boston Globe

Published

4 months ago

January 28, 2026

N.H. weighs felony-level offense to stop illegal immigrants from renting an apartment – The Boston Globe

The bill’s prime sponsor, Representative Joe Alexander Jr., a Goffstown Republican who chairs the Housing Committee, said the bill is meant to serve as a deterrent.

“Illegal aliens are not welcome in the Granite State,” he said. “And by passing this bill, we will continue to make sure that there is nowhere they can live.”

He pointed to the state’s housing shortage and said people without legal status are taking apartments away from New Hampshire citizens.

The bill has five other Republican co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, in addition to two Republican co-sponsors in the Senate, indicating at least some degree of support in the other chamber.

During a hearing at the State House on Tuesday, Democratic members of the House’s Housing Committee questioned Alexander on whether the bill would survive legal challenges. They raised concerns the bill could result in discriminatory housing practices, and that it could leave minors in a mixed-status family unable to access housing.

“We’re essentially saying that there is no housing that is available to that child, who is a Granite Stater, who is an American citizen,” said Representative David Paige, a North Conway Democrat. “That’s unacceptable to me personally.”

“Is that your intent in this bill, and if not, is there a way that we can ensure that those kids can have access to safe and secure housing in our state?” he asked.

“My intent of this bill is, if you are in this country illegally, you are not welcome here, and you should not have housing,” Alexander responded.

The effort drew opposition from advocates of civil liberties and immigrant rights.

The ACLU of New Hampshire opposed the effort because of concerns around due process, the risk of discrimination, and the potential costs of expensive litigation under federal civil rights and fair housing laws.

“It will cause a litigation firestorm, and New Hampshire taxpayers will be left paying to defend a law that is hardly defendable and undermines constitutional protections, and destabilizes the housing market as well,” said Rachel Potter, a policy associate with the organization.

She warned that the bill could turn the housing market into an unconstitutional state-run immigration enforcement system.

At least one resident spoke in support of the proposal. Patrick Binder of Manchester called the proposal a good, workable deterrent.

“I think it’s a good direction for New Hampshire and for the citizens here,” he said.

Several organizations that work with immigrants also opposed the effort.

“We are a state that depends on immigration to grow and even maintain our population and workforce,” said William Gillett, director of public policy and advocacy at the International Institute of New England, an organization that supports immigrants and refugees who came through legal pathways in New Hampshire.

While this bill is aimed at illegal immigrants, Gillett said it would have a chilling effect against all immigrants, including those with a legal status. He said it would make it harder for all immigrants to enter the rental market and suppress legal and needed immigration in the state.

Dylan Hoey, director of the New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants and Refugees, called the Class B felony language “extremely punitive and concerning.”

Hoey, who previously served as a US Foreign Service officer at the Department of State, said calculating unlawful presence is an extremely difficult task.

“In my view, HB 1709 effectively delegates federal immigration law enforcement to New Hampshire landlords,” he said, adding this would place landlords in a legally precarious position of screening people based on national origin and immigration status.

New Hampshire law authorizes imprisonment of more than a year for a Class B felony and no more than a 7-year prison term.

The bill has a long road before it has a chance at becoming law. It would need to gain approval from both the House and the Senate before landing on the governor’s desk.

Amanda Gokee can be reached at amanda.gokee@globe.com. Follow her @amanda_gokee.

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New Hampshire

Feds put ‘severely disruptive’ restrictions on applying for green cards

Published

8 hours ago

May 23, 2026

Press Room

Feds put ‘severely disruptive’ restrictions on applying for green cards

In a monumental shift in policy, the federal government plans to bar noncitizens from changing their immigration statuses except in extraordinary circumstances.

Local immigration attorneys say the move by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will impact thousands of people in the middle of the process and those planning to adjust their statuses in Massachusetts, and millions of foreign nationals nationwide. That includes students, temporary visa holders, and tourists, say attorneys.

Adjustment of status is when a noncitizen lawfully in the U.S. tries to switch to lawful permanent residence, known as a green card. It has been routine within the USCIS for decades. Adjustment of status has long allowed noncitizens to do so within the US without having to return to their country of origin.

“It’s extremely disruptive and is only going to further burden and complicate the system. It makes no sense,” said Robin Nice, a local immigration attorney.

Todd Pomerleau, a local attorney who has won cases before the Supreme Court, said that the USCIS “can’t eliminate statutory protections nor can it rewrite regulations while going through the proper channels. Otherwise, we’ll sue them in court.”

USCIS released a memo on Friday saying that the system has been abused. Specifically, the memo says the process that allows green card applicants to remain in the U.S. while applying was never intended to replace the system of applying for a visa from abroad. It instructs officers to treat adjustment of status applications as an exceptional, discretionary benefit, and that it is now “an extraordinary form of immigration relief.”

The agency says that even if applicants meet requirements for permanent residence when they’re about to apply in the US, they must leave the U.S. when their current visa ends, and wait for the State Department to process their case.

“It affects every person within the United States that is seeking adjustment of status. It affects students, it effects temporary protected status holders, it affects business visa holders,” said Annelise Araujo, a lawyer who runs an immigration practice in Boston.

Given the backlog of cases, attorneys say noncitizens will have to wait abroad for an indefinite period of time, and potentially be ineligible to return.

USCIS spokesman Zach Kahler said the change is about “returning to the original intent of the law.”

“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivizing loopholes. When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the U.S. illegally after being denied residency,” he said in a statement. Kahler said nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose, and they must leave after.

Nice said the policy will drive immigrants “underground” and force them to pay thousands of extra dollars annually in renewing temporary statuses and work permits, since they won’t want to go abroad.

Araujo said the policy change will have a large impact on students. F-1 student visa holders can currently apply for green cards with limitations.

“They may change what their goals are, right? They may decide that they want to permanently stay after they’ve entered the United States and they may look for a job here. And that’s why adjustment of status exists,” she said.

Both Nice and Araujo said USCIS is wrong that this has previously been standard policy.

Araujo said the change will also impact people on work visas, like CEOs of multinational corporations, or on specialized visas, like an H-1B, a visa for foreign nationals with specialized knowledge in fields like technology, engineering, healthcare or finance.

“They can go from a non-immigrant intent, which was the intent they had at the time they applied to enter, to a immigrant intent after they’ve been in the United States,” she said. Noncitizens told they can’t have a path to a green card and work lawfully may start considering other countries.

Pomerleau recommended noncitizens thinking of adjusting their status or in the middle of it consult with an immigration attorney.

“This is just yet another sign of the government trying to make things difficult for people that are even able to follow the laws that Congress created,” said Pomerleau.

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New Hampshire

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

Published

20 hours ago

May 23, 2026

Press Room

Best New Hampshire schools for athletes? According to one study, these are top 25

New Hampshire has long carried an athletic pedigree in the high school landscape.

Total number of sports: 35

1. Bedford High School

Total number of sports: 34

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire police plan to charge

Published

1 day ago

May 22, 2026

Press Room

Following the arrest of more than 50 people after a “takeover” at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire during the hot weather on Tuesday, the police chief tells WBZ-TV his department is seeking to charge those who organized the event.

Flyers posted on various social media sites advertised a “Hampton Beach Takeover.” The result was that on Tuesday, thousands of kids, many of them high school seniors skipping school, congregated at Hampton Beach.

When the skies opened and it started rain around 4:30, the group of teens ran onto Ocean Boulevard, where police say that fights broke out. Fifty people were arrested for charges, including alcohol possession and disorderly conduct.

Beach takeovers like this are not uncommon. WBZ-TV has covered several similar situations on Revere Beach in Massachusetts.

Local Hampton business owner Kristen Statires said this has become an annual issue, happening on the first hot weather day of every season since the pandemic.

“And the police know about it, we know about it, so we were expecting it. Like we knew it was going to happen,” she said.

When the kids ran into the street, she closed her shop doors and shut down for the day.

In a phone call with WBZ, Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said his department already knows the two groups of people behind organizing the beach takeover, and plans to file the appropriate charges.

“It would be an aggressive move on the police’s part, but it would certainly send a message,” said WBZ legal analyst Jennifer Roman.

Reno said his department was continuing to gather evidence and is working with law-enforcement partners across New England and even at the federal level to determine the appropriate charges before issuing arrest warrants. The hope is that charging the organizers creates a deterrent for any future similar behavior.

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