**Although a judge has ordered the Coast Guard to return its rescue helicopter to Newport, the property has been mostly cleared out to make room for a possible detention center.** (Quinton Smith/Lincoln Chronicle)

By the Lincoln Chronicle and Oregon Public Broadcasting

The city of Newport is suing the Trump administration in a bid to stop federal officials from building a new immigration detention facility at its airport on the south edge of town.

The lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Eugene asks the court to block federal officials from creating the state’s only detention center in a dangerous tsunami zone that would also damage the city’s tourist-based economy.

The lawsuit listed a litany of furtive inquiries in and around the community from federal government contractors about leasing land, renting blocks of hotel rooms and handling thousands of gallons of sewage.

The lawsuit also says the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Coast Guard have not complied with federal environmental laws or Oregon’s coastal zone management act in planning such a major undertaking.

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.

“Local and state codes and regulations have been carefully crafted to maintain Newport’s coastal infrastructure, protect its natural environment, and safeguard residents and visitors from floodplain and high-risk tsunami areas,” the lawsuit said. “With complete disregard for the foregoing, and without providing any opportunity for input from the public, defendants have decided to fund, construct, and maintain a massive immigration detention and deportation facility in Newport. All indications point toward defendants’ plans to use the facility both to quickly deport a high volume of people and detain others long term.”

Newport’s attorneys argue the city isn’t equipped to handle scores of federal personnel and the detainees they may hope to lodge, and that its tourism-centric economy would take a dive.

“They’re operating in secrecy, and it’s going to have significant impacts on the city’s tourism,” Keith Ketterling, of Portland firm Stoll Berne, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. Stoll Berne is representing Newport in court.

Federal officials did not immediately respond to OPB’s inquiries. The Trump administration has not publicly provided details about any potential plans in Newport.

The city’s lawsuit came the same day that U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken issued a preliminary injunction, blocking any effort by the federal government to relocate a Coast Guard rescue helicopter, a move described by Newport’s attorneys as “clearing out” the property where a detention facility would stand. Attorneys for the Coast Guard argued recently that relocating the helicopter was temporary.

Separately, the state of Oregon last week asked a federal judge to block the detention facility efforts. The state’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s activities in Newport was first filed Nov. 24.

Dave Koester of Newport organized fellow pilots last month to paint a large “No ICE” sign on the side of his hanger at the Newport airport to protest the possibility of the Department of Homeland Security using the Coast Guard facility as an immigrant detention center.

Detention details sketchy

Still, details remain scarce about the federal government’s specific plans.

Newport’s lawsuit Monday reiterated previously reported information — that Homeland Security officials have been eying the city’s small airport and port for a land lease, and that a number of local businesses have suddenly been receiving phone calls from federal contractors.

“Federal contractors began inundating local businesses, including hotels, a catering company, and utility entities, with inquiries about providing services for a facility containing over 200 people,” Newport’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges the airport is too small to suddenly stage a detention facility and that the roads are too narrow and flood-prone. It also argues the city has bigger needs for the airport and Coast Guard helicopter: search and rescue missions for the fishing industry.

The lawsuit also said that Newport granted the Coast Guard “a conditional interest” in 3.5 acres of land at the airport in 1992 for an air facility and that under terms of that agreement the property would revert back to the city should it be used for anything else. The lawsuit claims the Coast Guard stopped using the facility in May and that the property should return to the city in May 2026.

Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan went on the city’s social media site Monday evening to announce the lawsuit and explain why the city is fighting the possibility of the detention center.

“… this means we are asking the court to declare that the primary use of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Air Facility at our airport is to be for aviation,” Kaplan said. “In this case, that purpose is to house and maintain the Coast Guard rescue helicopter that is so vital to our community and industries here in Newport. We are also asking the court to declare that any attempt to use that air facility for another primary purpose would return that deed to the City of Newport immediately.

Kaplan said asking the federal government to comply with state and federal laws “means not acting in secret, but telling the public if it has decided to build a detention facility here. It also means giving detailed information about the effects to our environment and infrastructure of building and maintaining such a facility.”

“For nearly two months we have been asking for answers from our federal government,” he said. “Their silence has been deafening. And we want answers.”