Hillsborough County’s sheriff department will soon be deputized to carry out immigration enforcement across the 31 towns in its jurisdiction, including the vast majority of the Monadnock region.

Sheriff Brian Newcomb’s application to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was approved late last month, and he expects they’ll be up and running within 60 days.

“Hopefully, this agreement will help ensure that we are keeping the citizens of Hillsborough County safe,” Newcomb said.

The contract, called a 287(g) agreement, authorizes local police to arrest and interrogate people for warrants on or suspected immigration violations. They can also issue immigration detainers and hold custody of people arrested locally or by ICE, as well as transport them to ICE-approved detention centers.

All officers who participate must undergo mandatory training from ICE.

Newcomb said he wants his department to coordinate with federal authorities in what he views as a public safety measure.

“We just want to make sure that we let ICE know so that they can take the appropriate action based on their citizenship status,” Newcomb said. If he let someone go and “if they victimized someone else, I would feel horrible about that” because he might’ve prevented a crime.

Hillsborough County is home to New Hampshire’s two largest cities, Manchester and Nashua, which have large immigrant populations. Newcomb said he won’t be focusing immigration enforcement anywhere in particular – it’ll be more baked into the department’s regular operations.

“We’re not targeting individuals … We’re simply arresting people on immigration detainers if we come across them,” Newcomb said. “If we come across somebody and we happen to run their name … and it comes back that they have a detainer from ICE, we would go ahead and act on it.”

Some residents within Hillsborough County don’t want local police cooperating with or aiding federal immigration enforcement. Peterborough, for example, adopted an ordinance years ago to prevent its law enforcement officers from working with ICE.

Newcomb said he has gotten messages from people who are curious or concerned about their sheriff’s new role, to which he responds by explaining the nuts and bolts of the agreement and pitches it as a public safety issue.

Despite opposition from some New Hampshire residents, including several anti-Trump protests where people demonstrated against the president’s immigration crackdown, state leaders are pushing a law-and-order approach.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte recently signed a bill banning so-called “sanctuary” policies like Peterborough’s and has encouraged law enforcement agencies to sign up for the 287g agreements.

Hillsborough is the fourth county in New Hampshire to do so, joining Belknap, Grafton and Rockingham counties. New Hampshire State Police has also hopped on the train, as well as a few towns. Locally, the Troy Police Department joined the task force, as have Gorham, Ossipee, Candia, Colebrook and Pittsburg.

Charlotte Matherly is the statehouse reporter for the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, subscribe to her Capital Beat newsletter and send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.