Federal defense contractor backs out of potential Oregon Coast ICE facility

By SHAANTH NANGUNERI
Of the Oregon Capital Chronicle

A defense contractor with a history of providing housing for military operations withdrew its inquiry seeking land at the Newport Municipal Airport, a city official said Wednesday, as growing evidence suggests the Trump administration intends to use the site for Oregon’s first Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.

City Manager Nina Vetter confirmed the Texas-based Team Housing Solutions informed Newport officials of the decision Wednesday afternoon, setting the tone for a two-hour special city council meeting filled with emotional testimony and applause. Local residents urged Newport leaders to amass all the tools they have to block any plans for an ICE facility in the area.

“Maybe somebody thought ‘Oh, it’s a small place, it’s rural, they’re probably quiet, we can overpower them,” said City Councilor Steve Hickman. “We’ve been underestimated.”

Team Housing Solutions’ withdrawal follows the Tuesday disclosure of records showing the company, which has previously furnished housing for the Texas National Guard, asked the city about leasing land at the airport last week in support of “federal operations.” Early November job listings posted by government contractors Acuity International, based in Virginia, and Asset Protection & Security Services, based in Texas, for detention, clinical and transport officers in Newport have fueled concerns that those operations will include immigration detention.

Oregon does not have a long-term detention facility, reflecting the state’s decades-old status as the first sanctuary state in the nation. A 2021 law bans the creation of private immigration detention centers. In Portland, for instance, an ICE processing center has drawn strong protests while city leaders have accused the location of violating land use rules barring the detention of individuals for more than 12 hours or overnight.

A Monday statement from Vetter and Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan set off panic statewide after they said they were “made aware of information” indicating the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was already in the process of considering locations for a detention facility across the Oregon Coast, including the Newport Municipal Airport. Since then, Oregon’s city, state and federal leaders say they have been unable to get clarity from the agency.

“The federal government continues to refuse to share their plans with the public,” Gov. Tina Kotek said in a Wednesday statement. “While information is limited at this time, I oppose spending taxpayer dollars on an unwanted and unnecessary additional ICE detention facility in Newport, or any part of the state. The Trump Administration should focus on solving real problems, not inciting fear and tearing communities apart.”

The extent to which Housing Solutions’ withdrawal could complicate the path forward for the federal government’s plans remains to be seen. Vetter told residents Wednesday that the city has not received any direct communication from the homeland security department.

ICE and DHS have not responded to the Capital Chronicle’s requests for comment this week. While the agency did not confirm Newport’s location specifically, a Wednesday statement from the homeland security department to The Lincoln Chronicle and Oregon Public Broadcasting said officials were “working with state and local governments to secure greater and more cost-effective detention space.”

“(DHS) is working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst including gang members, pedophiles, terrorists, rapists, and murderers,” the statement read.

Further angering Newport residents was the recent removal of a rescue helicopter from the airport’s Coast Guard station to a station in North Bend, with no public explanation from the homeland security department.

The land Team Housing Solutions was seeking would have been next to where the U.S. Coast Guard has operated its permanent airport facility. The federal government has owned that site through a deed since 1992, Vetter said.

Those developments lit a fire in the liberal coastal city over the safety of fishermen and boat workers in an area with a large commercial fishing industry. Local residents and speakers at Wednesday’s meeting stressed their support for the rescue operations and local immigrant communities. The city has so far avoided much of the aggressive deportation operations brought forth by the Trump administration across Oregon in the past few weeks, which included large recent raids in Woodburn and Salem.

News of the contractor’s withdrawal also comes as growing pushback to the facility has emerged from Oregon’s federal lawmakers. Democratic U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Val Hoyle on Wednesday wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanding a briefing and written responses to their questions about the Newport facility by Friday.

“There are also persistent reports and rumors that DHS is working to move Coast Guard assets away from Newport in order to make room for immigration enforcement operations,” the lawmakers wrote. “It appears that ICE is looking to install a detention facility or outpost in Newport, as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to ramp up immigration enforcement.”

Team Housing Solutions did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about their decision.

Used with permission from Oregon Capital Chronicle. See more at www.oregoncapitalchronicle.com.