On Monday night, the Hanover Selectboard held a public hearing for feedback to the proposed revision to the town’s Fair and Impartial Policing Ordinance. Twelve of the 13 attendees who spoke said they vehemently opposed changes to the directive. The Selectboard decided to discuss the issue again at their next meeting on Nov. 17 before voting.
The revised ordinance, presented by Town Manager Robert Houseman, would require the Hanover Police Department to cooperate if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers requested to detain suspected undocumented immigrants in Hanover, undoing the town’s sanctuary city status. On May 22, Republican Governor Kelly Ayotte signed H.B. 511, which threatens to revoke 25 percent of state funding from towns that do not revise their sanctuary city policies by Jan 1, 2026 — worth $354,000 for Hanover, or 2.5% of the town budget.
The town’s options, according to Houseman, are to retain the language of the original ordinance, to edit the document to comply with local law, or to rescind and delete the ordinance entirely. The last two are “low risk” alternatives to retaining the original ordinance, Houseman wrote in an email statement to The Dartmouth after the hearing.
“The Selectboard has the unenviable task of balancing the input from the community against the potential risk of noncompliance,” Houseman wrote.
Twelve residents at the hearing spoke against the revised ordinance.
Hanover resident Susan Borne said changing the policing ordinance to comply with H.B. 511 was “essentially appeasement” and “enabling authoritarianism.”
Dena Romero, who also lives in town, said she felt that adopting the new ordinance would signal an “acceptance” of the Trump administration.
“Consider you are doing your job in a much larger context … in a country that is in really bad shape, where the tenets of our democracy are under threat,” Romero said, addressing the members of the Selectboard.
Hanover resident Robert Keene said he was “compelled” to speak up because ICE, under the directive of the Trump administration, is “acting in an uncivilized and illegal fashion.”
“I don’t think there’s a policeman in this town with the heart to do what ICE is doing to human beings across this country, and I plead with you, avoid this wordsmithing mess and stick to your guns,” Keene added.
Accusations of brutality, poor detention conditions and aggressive anti-immigrant raids have been circulating around ICE for months.
Other residents said they believed the moral benefits outweighed the potential funding reduction. Bear Barnes argued that Hanover “could afford” to “raise their hands against” the state government.
The Hanover town government has not been notified of any ICE sightings in Hanover or received any ICE detainment requests since 2014, according to Houseman.
Hanover resident Will Carney said he was ambivalent about the ordinance because he thought refugees would go to towns with lower cost of living.
“Nobody is seeking refuge in Hanover because there’s none to be found here,” Carney said. He advocated that the town “make the minimum changes” to comply with state law “because we have so many real and pressing issues.”
“I call it a liberal theater of lawn signs, and it’s frustrating to me to see Black Lives Matter signs or ‘All are welcome here’ when it’s not true,” Carney said in an interview with the Dartmouth after the hearing. “No one’s welcome in Hanover. Money is welcome in Hanover.”
After the public hearing, Hanover legal counsel Laura Spector-Morgan warned the Selectboard that the town would likely face penalties if it did not revise the ordinance.
“We don’t think [the town] can win a lawsuit challenging this law,” Spector-Morgan said.
After hearing from the public, Selectboard members decided to continue the discussion at their next meeting on Nov. 17. Selectboard chair Carey Callaghan proposed holding another public hearing before making a decision about how to change the ordinance, if at all.
The Selectboard meets every other Monday at 7 p.m. in the town offices at 41 South Main St. Meetings are open to the public.
