Benton County officials are weighing whether to chip in $5,000 to help fund the City of Newport’s ongoing legal battle against a proposed federal immigration detention facility. The small coastal town continues racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees with no clear end in sight.
The Benton County Board of Commissioners took up the question at its April 21 meeting, directing the Interim County Administrator and County Counsel to review a proposed intergovernmental funding agreement with Newport. County staff have since recommended that Benton County sign onto the agreement and provide the $5,000 in litigation support. Intergovernmental agreements are vehicles for getting the tees crossed in instances like these.
Now, the Benton County Board of Commissioners are set to decide the matter at their Tuesday, May 19 meeting.
How It Started
The legal battle traces back to last October, when DHS moved a Coast Guard rescue helicopter from Newport to North Bend without providing the congressional notification required by law. The helicopter and crew are essential to keeping fishing crews and others safe off the town’s coast. Newport, Lincoln County, the Newport Fisherman’s Wives, and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield sued, and U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken issued a temporary restraining order in November that returned the helicopter to Newport.
But the helicopter move was only part of the story. Even before the lawsuit, a series of developments had raised alarms. A Texas-based company with a history of building military housing inquired about city-owned property at Newport Municipal Airport for an unnamed federal project. The company issued a letter of interest, job postings for ICE personnel listing Newport soon appeared, and local motels received inquiries from government contractors seeking up to 200 rooms to house workers.
For months, city officials sought clarity from DHS about its intentions — and got none. It wasn’t until a January federal court filing that the picture became clearer: the agency had begun environmental compliance procedures to use the Coast Guard air facility as a temporary holding and processing site for ICE, but halted those efforts on December 4 after the base was deemed no longer available, according to Ralph Ferguson, an official with ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.
Fast forward
By January of this year the City of Newport had spent nearly $185,000 fighting plans for what would be Oregon’s first immigration detention facility, and the town’s officials say they have no intention of stopping — even as the Department of Homeland Security moves to end the lawsuit, saying they have no current plan to build an ICE facility there.
But Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan isn’t satisfied, and he’s been straightforward with local news outlet, Lincoln Chronicle, about that dissatisfaction. The federal government, Kaplan said, “has left the community in a state of uncertainty,” and the city will only stand down when ICE makes a permanent commitment to not establish a detention facility in Newport.
“While this statement represents a positive step for our community, we must remain vigilant and carefully consider its language,” Kaplan said. “Previously, ICE offered only that it would not build a detention facility in Newport or at the Newport Municipal Airport before May 2026. We have not yet received assurances that ICE will not attempt to establish a facility in our community in the future.”
DHS has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Eugene to dismiss the city’s claims, asserting that no detention facility is coming. “ICE has made no decision to build any such facility, has no present intent to make such a decision, and is not currently building any such facility in or around Newport or anywhere in Lincoln County, Oregon,” the agency said in a federal court filing.
The Bill Keeps Growing
Newport’s legal team at Portland firm Stoll Berne had billed the city $184,748 as of a January 13 invoice. Eight lawyers had collectively worked more than 400 hours on the case. The firm’s top-billed attorney charges $800 an hour and has logged 99 hours alone.
To keep the fight going, Newport’s city council unanimously approved transferring $350,000 from Newport’s general fund, with most of it earmarked for ongoing legal fees, according to city attorney Tiffany Johnson.
Kaplan struck a defiant tone when speaking to the Lincoln Chronicle. “I am deeply proud of our community for vigorously defending our values,” he said, “but our work does not stop here.”
It’s anticipated that the Benton County Board of Commissioners will approve contributing the $5,000 recommended by staff. We’ll keep you posted.
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