By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
Motels along the central Oregon coast are being contacted by the military housing contractor that had its eye on a piece of Newport property for a potential federal detention facility but this time seeking prices and availability for up to 200 rooms for a year to “accommodate personnel” beginning as soon as Dec. 15.
The Tuesday emails – coupled with another firm inquiring to the state about regulations involving a large project in Newport with significant environmental impacts – ramped up concern Tuesday that the Trump administration is continuing to look at the area for Oregon’s only immigration detention facility.
Events were happening so quickly Tuesday that Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan and the city took to social media to announce the latest developments and object to the federal government’s continued efforts to put a center in or around Newport.
Three weeks ago, Team Housing Solutions, a Texas contractor with a history of housing National Guard troops near the U.S.-Mexico border, sent a letter to the city of Newport asking to lease 4.3 acres adjacent to the U.S. Coast Guard facility at the airport. The letter gave vague details of a “federal project.”
While the contractor has since withdrawn its letter, detention jobs have continued to be listed on several job websites. And days before withdrawing its request, Team Housing Solutions also reached out to at least one private leaseholder at the airport to see if it was interested in sub-leasing its 10-acre property.
Looking for lodging
Tuesday morning, the same company began contacting motels along the coast, including at least four in Newport and two in Yachats.
The email from Team Housing Solutions asked about pricing and availability for up to 200 rooms a year, a Newport motel employee told the Lincoln Chronicle. The rooms would be used to “accommodate personnel in the area,” according to a screenshot of the exchange obtained by Lincoln Chronicle.
A similar email made its way to the front desk of the 110-room oceanfront Adobe Resort in Yachats inquiring for space for up to a year beginning as soon as Dec. 15. The Adobe, which is part of the Portland-based Fusion Lodging chain, did not reply, said general manager Anthony Muirhead, who added that any motel that did accept the offer would likely damage its business.
“We would not accept this business because it goes against our values and the standards we believe our community deserves,” Muirhead told the Chronicle. “It would be unfortunate if another property were to take this business without fully understanding the potential impact. I believe the community’s response would likely be strong, and protests at that hotel could ultimately harm their operation. Our priority is to stand with the community and uphold the values that define us.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who spent much of Sunday in Newport meeting with local officials and then holding a town hall meeting, issued a blistering statement Tuesday on the Trump administration’s latest apparent attempts to put a detention center in Newport or find housing for its personnel.
“This relentless pursuit by Donald Trump and his crew of this dangerous and deceitful assault on Newport is unfortunately right out of Trump’s perverse playbook,” Wyden said in a statement. “Lincoln County delivered a clear message at my town hall on Sunday that the community wants an end to this asinine scheme of putting an ICE detention facility in Newport.”
Mounting signs
Meanwhile, Oregon Capital Chronicle reported Tuesday that a federal contractor representing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Oregon officials last week that they are preparing an analysis of an unspecified project that would have significant environmental ramifications for Newport.
Solv, a Virginia-based environmental services company with a history of recieving federal contracts from the Department of Homeland Security, inquired Thursday with the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development about initiating a “proposed action” under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, according to the Capital Chronicle.
Amber Carter, a scientist for Solv wrote an email to the agency relaying that ICE “is beginning the process of initiating” a consultation and is “developing a federal consistency determination for a proposed action in Newport, Oregon,” the Capital Chronicle reported. She asked about how best to submit those findings and for more information about the timeline in which she should provide other documentation.
The environmental contractor’s email, reviewed by the Capital Chronicle offers no further details about the project or its location in Newport.
Solv received more than $5.6 million in federal contracts from 2021 to June 2025, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tapping its expertise in “ICE sustainability program support services.” In December 2020, the company produced an evaluation report for the federal agency when it sought to expand its operations at an ICE processing facility in El Paso, Texas, according to reporting by the Capital Chronicle.
Under a federal law dating back to 1972, nearly all states bordering an ocean or the Great Lakes have federally approved plans to protect their coastlines. Whenever a federal agency wants to act in a coastal zone, it must wait at least 90 days before the project can break ground.
In Oregon, that process allows for state agencies to make recommendations or offer support under certain conditions for a project. But a federal agency can overrule an objection from state officials if it finds its efforts are “consistent to the maximum extent practicable” with state law. The federal agency must inform Oregon of that decision, opening the door for potential litigation that Oregon would need to file should it disagree with the outcome.
The Capital Chronicle said the exact type of proposed project was not specified in the email, according to conservation agency spokesperson Sadie Carney, who said in a statement that the department responded with answers to “procedural questions” the contractor had. Carney was not immediately able to comment on whether the contractor had since Thursday provided Oregon with a more concrete or official plan, the Capital Chronicle reported. Solv did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Gearing up
The latest emerging details have provided growing evidence that an ICE facility is planned for Newport and city officials have been bracing for impact.
During a Nov. 12 city council meeting that drew over 800 people, city leaders unanimously opposed the potential detention center in Newport and vowed to do everything they could to keep the project out of the city.
Since then, the city has retained attorneys from Portland-based Stoll Berne at rates ranging from $450 to $800 an hour. The agreement is for “… litigation against the federal government, specifically regarding the construction and operation of an immigration enforcement, detention, or other related facility in Newport,” according to the firm’s letter to the city.
No official lawsuits have been filed yet, according to court records.
On Monday night, a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security to return a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter to Newport after it was moved to North Bend last month without notice. Newport Fisherman’s Wives and Lincoln County had filed a request for a temporary restraining order Monday to return the helicopter.
There were reports Tuesday that the helicopter has stopped at the air station, but there is no confirmation if it will be staying or was only making a stop, according to Newport officials.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
Great reporting, thank you!
I just booked two nights at the Adobe next month so that Jack & I can hang out in Yachats over New Year’s Eve and also support the strong stand that Anthony Muirhead is taking here. He didn’t even blink.
Bravo Adobe! Any lodging that agrees to house these people will suffer the wrath of locals and Oregonians statewide. This is a despicable effort.
They won’t suffer this Oregonian’s wrath. I would choose to give business to a hotel providing such a wonderful service to our community.
You will be saying that when they’re coming to 10 years. Don’t wait matter time. Good luck with that. Keep turning on the blind eye. But when they come for you don’t ask for my help.
Going to be rather interesting to see what happens if ICE officers are housed in local hotels where the maids and other support personnel are undocumented immigrants. Maybe their rooms just won’t get cleaned.
I hope other motel managers are as principled as the Adobe’s and refuse to house these masked thugs and body snatchers.
Anyone who might be targeted because of their appearance or language use or ??? is endangered …..whether citizen or not, workers or tourists.
We already have a housing shortage here. Motels serve as a temporary living situation for all kinds of folks, including medical staff and other critical service providers. Hell no to the idea of filling up those rooms with ICE agents, and thanks so much to the Adobe for rejecting this idea. Hope everyone else does the same.
Hotels in other towns and cities which housed ICE personnel were met with loud night time protesters on the sidewalks. After a few nights, the hotels asked the ICE personnel to leave as they were hurting their business. This contractor as well as all hotels should know that will happen here as well. The Adobe’s Muirhead is spot on.
I just shared this information with the New York times in hopes of getting some more visibility if others do the same perhaps we’ll get some national coverage and some something?https://www.nytimes.com/tips
Just shared a link of this article with the new york times. If others do the same perhaps we will get the national coverage that might embarrass the administration. Its worth a try .
Thanks Shayla for the great reporting .
We need to organize a community boycott of any hotel or other business that cooperates with ICE
Oh look, another Government run ponzi scheme whereby tax-payer dollars go to Private Companies like “Team Housing Solutions” where they’ll make millions of dollars creating more problems for our community.
Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkely should be ashamed of themselves for being so ineffective and focusing on nonsense issues that don’t benefit Oregonians.
If you need 200 hotel rooms for a year to get rid of “illegal aliens/undocumented workers” than it means you aren’t serious about the issue and you just need a way to bilk the tax-payer out of more money.
It’s ridiculous to blame our senators. Notice that Republicans control the Senate, not the Democrats.
With the inquiry to Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, take a look at what pieces of land for sale in the Newport area have gone pending in the past 2 weeks.
Adobe’s Muirhead has it right!
Clealy the ICE focus is on those of ‘some color’, not ‘white’ (whatever ‘white’ is) and supports the Trump Administration’s racist attitude. How those of ‘some color’ add value to the coastal or any economy is of no importance it appears.
Are the Canadians and those from other ‘white’ countries also here ‘illegally’ next or will they be overlooked for obvious reasons?
How about in eastern Oregon where there are Trump supporters? Why build it on the coast? Actually why build it at all?
Thank you for the high quality reporting.
In the 1800s, we called them “reservations”.
In the 1930s and 40s, we called the German facilities “concentration camps”, and we called our locations for US citizens of Japanese descent “internment camps”.
Oregon needs no ICE concentration camp.