Oregon is dropping its lawsuit to halt construction of an immigrant detention center in Newport, after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed it’s no longer pursuing the project.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials’ effort to build a detention center at the Newport Airport first came to light a year ago, after the agency relocated a Coast Guard rescue helicopter that had been based there since 1987. That prompted a series of lawsuits from the city, the state and community members — some aimed at preserving rescue helicopter access for coastal tourists and the local fishing fleet, others at keeping ICE from setting up a jail.
On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, confirmed in federal court filings that it has abandoned plans to build a detention center in Newport and that it presently has no plans to build anywhere in Oregon. DHS also agreed to give Newport leaders at least 30 days’ notice if it resumes efforts to build a detention center there, through Aug. 1 of next year.
Officials in Newport, which joined Oregon in the lawsuit to keep ICE out, applauded the news.
“Our responsibility is to stand up for our residents, protect our community’s future and ensure that decisions affecting Newport are made with the transparency and accountability our community deserves,” Mayor Jan Kapla said.
DHS officials did not respond to an emailed request for a comment. In earlier court disclosures, the agency revealed that it had started working to bring a detention center to Newport by fall 2025, moving the Coast Guard helicopter to make room for that project, and originally expected to house detainees there as early as the start of 2026.
The helicopter has been back since December, after a judge ordered its return in a separate lawsuit that is still under way.
State Attorney General Dan Rayfield said Oregon will continue to fight to keep the rescue helicopter in Newport, and celebrated the end of the lawsuit over the planned detention center.
“ICE doesn’t get to skirt the law to build a facility for locking up and deporting our neighbors,” Rayfield said in a statement issued Friday. “Oregon stood up, we made the federal government answer for its plans in court, and now they have to follow the law.”