Federal prison in Berlin, NH, holding immigration detainees

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

News 9 Investigates has learned that the federal prison in Berlin is now holding people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A source told News 9 Investigates that there are about 250 immigration detainees currently being held at the federal prison in Berlin.

The facility’s website says there are 981 inmates there, but it’s unclear whether that number includes the people there who have recently been detained by ICE.

The FCI in Berlin is part of an interagency agreement with the federal Bureau of Prisons. That agency says the other facilities in the agreement are in Miami, Kansas, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

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This is happening as the Trump administration continues its deportation efforts of undocumented immigrants across the country. In February, News 9 reported that the Strafford County jail in Dover was seeing an increase in the number of migrants.

At that time, officials said the jail had the highest number of migrants held there since 2018.

In a statement to News 9, the ACLU of New Hampshire criticized the use of a federal prison to hold migrants on immigration issues.

“It is harrowing to imagine that people facing civil – not criminal – charges are being sent to a medium-security federal prison in the northernmost city in the entire state, isolated from their family, advocates and potential legal services,” the organization said. “We continue to be outraged that New Hampshire is being used for this cruelty, and we have strong concerns about the conditions of and how they will be treated in this prison.”

News 9 is waiting to hear back from ICE officials for more details on what is happening at the federal prison in Berlin. The Bureau of Prisons said it does not share information about the legal status of people assigned to any particular facility or the numbers of detainees.