The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has agreed that if it decides to open a new immigration detention facility in Newport before Aug. 1, it will alert the city at least 30 days before issuing a final environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.
The legal settlement does not require advance notice if the federal government seeks to open a new ICE detention center in any other part of Oregon.
The federal government has said it currently is not planning to open any immigration detention facilities in Oregon. But it had been considering doing so in Newport – until the community pushed back against the plan.
Earlier this year, a federal immigration official confirmed in a court filing that the Trump administration had been eyeing a Newport air facility for a temporary detention center and had started an environmental analysis. It scrapped the idea, though, when the proposed relocation of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter – necessary to make way for the project – raised a public furor.
The negotiated settlement, filed in federal court in Eugene on Friday, is aimed at keeping a federal immigration detention center out of Newport. It had been awaiting final approval from the U.S. Department of Justice since the start of the year.
The city of Newport filed a lawsuit in federal court last December to try to block any attempt by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to open a temporary detention center in the small Oregon coast city. Early this year, the U.S. government moved to dismiss the lawsuit and the parties engaged in talks to settle the case.
“This has been a long and challenging process for our community, and we have remained committed to protecting Newport’s interests every step of the way,” Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan said in a statement.
Attorney Chloe Jasper, who represented Newport, said the five-paragraph agreement “was not an easy resolution to achieve” and applauded Newport’s mayor, city attorney and city council for their efforts to block ICE from setting up shop at the Newport Municipal Airport.
The state of Oregon earlier in the year joined the Newport case in support of the city, and environmental advocacy groups Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition and Cascadia Wildlands became intervenors in the case to ensure no federal facility would be opened without going through environmental and land-use reviews.
“Oregon stood up, we made the federal government answer for its plans in court, and now they have to follow the law,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.
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