The Trump administration backed down on Friday from plans for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newport, Oregon. It also confirmed there are no current construction plans anywhere in the state. That ended two federal lawsuits 1.
Newport is a coastal town of about 10,000 people that depends on fishing, tourism and marine research. It sued last December. The town said the federal government had decided to build a massive facility for ICE detainees without public input and without regard for local infrastructure or the environment 1.
What the settlement says
The federal defendants are the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Coast Guard, ICE and the agencies' directors. They stipulated, or formally agreed in court, that ICE is not currently planning to expand any current detention facility in Oregon. They also agreed that ICE is not planning to open any new long- or short-term detention facility there 1.
Through next August, if DHS decides to build or run a temporary or permanent facility in Newport, it must give the plaintiffs at least 30 days of notice. That notice must come before it issues a final environmental impact statement or environmental assessment 1.
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A second lawsuit was filed earlier this year by the state and two conservation groups. It argued the proposal violated environmental law, citing the threatened and endangered species in and around Newport 1.
ICE doesn’t get to skirt the law to build a facility for locking up and deporting our neighbors
Mayor Jan Kaplan said the town was among the first to try this. “When we began this effort, there was no playbook for a city like Newport to challenge the potential siting of a federal detention facility,” she said in a video statement 1.
How it got here
ICE had considered using the Coast Guard Air Facility in Newport as a temporary holding and processing site. An ICE director confirmed in February that it had been withdrawn from consideration 1.
In March, DHS asked a federal judge in Eugene to dismiss the city's claims. The agency said it had made no decision to build in Newport. Kaplan answered then that the city would keep litigating “until we secure sufficient guarantees” 2. Friday's settlement is the written commitment the town had been seeking.
The legal fight was costly for a small town. As of a January 13 invoice, Newport had spent $184,748 on outside lawyers 2.
What DHS says
A DHS spokesperson confirmed there are no facility plans to announce. The spokesperson said: “DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners” 1.
That matters because the settlement is narrow. It covers Oregon, and the notice requirement in Newport lasts only through next August. Conservation groups said they will stay watchful. Elise Newman of the Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition said the group will make sure any future proposals respect local and environmental law 1.
Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands, one of the intervening groups, said he hopes the case will be a template for other states to resist further attempts to build such facilities 1. Whether other towns can follow Newport's path will depend on their own courts and facts.
The Record
- ICE stopped environmental compliance work on the Newport Coast Guard facility as a possible temporary holding site, a January filing said 2.
- Newport reported that DHS had asked a federal judge to dismiss the city's claims, saying ICE had no plans to build there 2.
- Federal defendants stipulated that ICE has no current plans for new or expanded detention facilities in Oregon, ending two lawsuits 1.
Sources
- Courthouse News, “ICE agrees to drop plans to construct Oregon detention center” (2026-10-24). courthousenews.com/ice-agrees-to-drop-plans-to-construct-ore
- KLCC / Lincoln Chronicle, “In new court filing, ICE says it has no plans for Newport facility, asks judge to dismiss lawsuit; Newport says 'promise'” (2026-03-04). klcc.org/politics-government/2026-03-04/in-new-court-filing-
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