A Homeland Security official says the agency has stopped trying to convert the Coast Guard air base in Newport into an immigration detention center, but could resume plans for it in May. (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
NEWPORT — After months of hints, speculation and community opposition, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed for the first time Tuesday that it wanted to build Oregon’s first immigration detention facility in Newport.
But in a federal court filing Tuesday, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official said the agency dropped its plans Dec. 4 after the U.S. Coast Guard said its air base at the Newport airport was no longer available.
The filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland comes in response to a lawsuit in U.S. District Court by the Newport Fishermen’s Wives, the city of Newport, Lincoln County and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
The filing was in support of a request by Homeland Security seeking more time to respond to the lawsuits. And while the filing claimed ICE is not currently seeking to build a detention center at or around the airport, it held open that its efforts could resume in May.
“ICE is not presently building a temporary holding/processing facility in or around Newport Municipal Airport,” according to Ralph Ferguson, an official with ICE’s enforcement and removal operations. “In addition, ICE has no plan or intention to begin construction or open an ICE facility in the city of Newport or at Newport Municipal Airport between now and until May 1, 2026.”
The agency began environmental compliance procedures to use the Coast Guard air facility in Newport as a “temporary holding/processing facility,” the filing said, but stopped Dec. 4 when the base was considered no longer available, according to Ferguson.
Dec. 4 was when Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced that the Coast Guard helicopter was staying in Newport after a call with Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, and Sean Plankey, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security adviser.
Homeland Security touched off the controversy in October when it moved the Newport-based rescue helicopter to North Bend without a congressionally-required notice. That prompted the federal lawsuits and U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in November issued a temporary restraining order that returned the helicopter to Newport.
The latest court filing in the case is the first direct confirmation that ICE had plans to build a detention facility in Newport. Local and state leaders have been unsuccessful for three months to get the agency to directly confirm plans of an immigration detention center.
Attorneys for the city of Newport say federal contractors have inquired about leasing two parcels of land (outlined in green and yellow) adjacent to the Coast Guard air facility at the Newport airport.In November, a Texas-based company with a history of building military housing expressed interest in a piece of city-owned property at the municipal airport for an unnamed federal project. Then, job postings for immigration and customs enforcement personnel surfaced for positions in Newport and local motels received inquiries from government contractors looking for up to 200 rooms to house workers.
While the company withdrew its letter of interest and there is substantial opposition from the public and Newport city officials, local and state leaders and nonprofit organizations haven’t given up fighting a potential facility and the fate of the Newport-based Coast Guard helicopter.
“Lincoln County maintains that the rescue helicopter is and will remain a vital, life-saving asset for our fishing fleet, recreational boaters and visitors, the latter of which begin to arrive in great numbers after May 1 each year,” the county wrote in a press release Wednesday. The three plaintiffs were still committed to pursuing the current litigation in order to keep the helicopter in Newport, the county said.
The city of Newport found out about the declaration on Tuesday, when it was filed in the U.S. District Court, a city spokesperson told the Lincoln Chronicle.
“ICE confirmed what we have known; however, ICE still refuses to confirm that it no longer seeks to develop any detention facility in or around Newport, including in unincorporated Lincoln County,” said John Fuller, Newport’s communications director.
“Given DHS and ICE’s lack of transparency and limited communication with Newport, we will continue to approach this situation with caution and skepticism,” Fuller said in a statement. “We will continue to proactively oppose such a facility through litigation and continue to engage with our community as we work together to oppose actions that can threaten our values and the well-being of our residents.”
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
Hello,This news of a detention center is but a long sad slide down,tears and fears will be housed all inclusive for the community and those being disappeared,no happiness no joy ,I am concerned not for meonly not in my back yard attitude but for inhumane mentally that comes with such event of picking up humans and warehousing them,this is a slippery slide for us all
I have no doubt this battle is NOT over. This administration, rooted in deception and disinformation, has ignored hundreds of court orders across the country when it comes to ICE. And DHS has gone on the record saying the only reason they are struggling to meet the 3,000/day quota set by Stephen Miller is because they’re lacking “capacity.” With $45 billion allocated for facilities alone, they have the money and the will to expand both through their own efforts and those of private, for-profit contractors. Come May, they will relocate the helicopter and push for a detention facility once again; they’ve already started the environmental impact process. As a community, we cannot relax our efforts to keep the helicopter and shut out the detention center. The two issues are inextricably tied together; not everybody seems to understand that. Fighting for one means sincerely fighting against the other.
ICE “held open that its efforts could resume in May.” Therefore, ICE has given official notice to Lincoln County citizens that they still want to build a concentration camp in Newport. They aren’t going away. Until citizens demand they leave.
Let’s build an ICE detention facility next to Mara Lago…I heard there’s a lot of criminals and immigrants there …
I fail to understand why, when there is all that vacant land in Eastern Oregon, they feel they must take away our helicopter and endanger our residents in order to put one of their concentration camps here.