The agency that operates Portsmouth International Airport says it has no legal authority to impede or stop federal immigration agents from operating deportation flights from their runway, despite ongoing pressure from local immigration activists.
On Tuesday, the Pease Development Authority, which oversees the airport, released a memorandum saying the agency “could face civil and/or criminal liability for attempting to do so” and noted that the airport’s deed includes specific language allowing government aircraft to use the runway.
The agency pointed to its legal status as a “public-use airport” which requires it to open its runways to “aircraft of the United States at all times, without charge.”
ICE has been operating regular domestic flights out of the Portsmouth airport since July – most to destinations like Harlingen, Texas, that are within an hour's drive of an ICE Processing Center.
Local protesters have hosted several events opposing the deportation flights and volunteered to monitor the airport runways during the flights.
During a public hearing Tuesday, Steve Duprey, chair of the PDA’s board of directors, said lawyers reviewed regulations surrounding the issue, and concluded that the airport could lose federal grants or even see its deed revoked by the federal government if it sought to block ICE flights.
“We are not unsympathetic,” Duprey told a few dozen protestors who attended the hearing. “And I'm speaking just for myself: I'm offended by what is occurring."
But Duprey made clear that ICE would continue operating flights out of the facility.
(Duprey is also a member of NHPR’s Board of Directors, but has no influence or input over the newsroom’s coverage.)
During a public comment period, immigration activists encouraged the PDA’s board to take any steps it could to halt the use of the airport’s runways by ICE.
Megan Chapman, an attorney from Albany, New Hampshire, alleged the federal government is violating the due process rights of those who are detained, often moving suspected undocumented people without notifying their legal counsel.
“We are here today because we feel Pease Development Authority should not be complicit in these kinds of abuses and needs to stand up to uphold the United States and New Hampshire constitution,” Chapman said.
This use of Pease for ICE flights mirrors flights operated from Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts. It is unclear why ICE decided to begin operating regular flights out of Portsmouth in July and August; they have not responded to multiple requests for comment from NHPR.
ICE resumed flights at Hanscom Field in September, according to reporting from WBUR.
Outside of the meeting, protestors held signs and waived American flags, while a marching band played spirited tunes. Cynthia Downs of Dover, who dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume, called ICE’s treatment of immigrants “morally corrupt.” She called on the PDA to do what they could to take action.
“I think they have to look in their heart and decide what is the right thing to do,” she said.
