The head of the state agency that failed to notify Gov. Kelly Ayotte of communication with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement about plans for a proposed immigrant detention facility in Merrimack has resigned.
Ayotte requested Sarah Stewart’s resignation and accepted it, effective Monday, according to a press release from the Governor’s office.
Stewart has served as commissioner of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources since June 2018.
Ayotte’s spokesperson John Corbett said the governor would be nominating Adam Crepeau as acting commissioner at the next meeting of the Executive Council. Crepeau is currently deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Services.
The announcement from the governor’s office comes after Stewart received sharp criticism last week from Ayotte and members of the Executive Council about her agency’s failure to alert Ayotte or other state officials about documents submitted Jan. 12 from the federal Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, about potential protected land impacts of a warehouse in Merrimack to be used for immigrant detention..
Ayotte called for a review of the incident by the attorney general’s office.
“It’s important to me that the commissioners communicate, and this was a serious lapse of communication,” she said.
Executive Councilor David Wheeler also rebuked Stewart. “I have lost confidence in the leadership of your department, and I think you ought to consider moving up your resignation,” he said last week.
In a joint statement, the five-member Executive Council said the case raised serious concerns about supervisory oversight: "The Executive Council will continue to demand accountability and transparency from all executive agencies and departments on behalf of the people of New Hampshire. The public has a right to expect that state government operates with the highest standards and that matters of significant policy importance are communicated promptly and appropriately.”
Last year, Stewart had announced her intention to resign in June of 2026. She was first appointed by then Gov. John Sununu in 2018, and reappointed in 2022 for a four-year term.
Previously, she co-founded a consulting agency, and served as deputy campaign manager in New Hampshire in 2008 for John McCain’s presidential campaign.
The documents showing that officials in Stewart’s department knew of the proposed ICE facility were first revealed through a right-to-know request by the ACLU of New Hampshire. ICE submitted the documents to the state Division of Historical Resources, which is part of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Other divisions in the department are the Division of Parks & Recreation, Forests & Lands, the State Library, and the State Council on the Arts.
